Common Ground
by Prisoner 24601
Summary: Pre KoTOR story about how Carth met his wife Morgana. *Incomplete*
1. A Chance Encounter

Disclaimer: I own none of this. I'm just playing with George Lucas' & Bioware's lovely toys. So please, don't sue me.

Authors Note: This short scene is one that I cut from my current ongoing story _From the Ashes_. While it didn't fit quite right, I thought that it was good enough to stand alone as a short vignette and someday this may actually turn into a full fledged story. Anyway, feedback is greatly appreciated. What you liked/didn't like or what you thought worked/didn't work is especially helpful. Enjoy!

Finally a big thanks to Lord Valentai for the beta!

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 1 – A Chance Encounter**_

In the fading autumn twilight, Carth pulled his new bright red speeder up before the large rambling brick house. He'd just won the speeder from another pilot in his squadron the night before in a game of Pazaak; the guy had been so bad, Carth didn't even have to cheat to win.

He stepped out of the speeder, straightened his dress uniform and sighed. Carth was not really looking forward to tonight, and was still unsure how he'd been roped into this in the first place. The semi-annual officer's gala was something he had planned on skipping, it didn't sound like his kind of thing, but he, and his two best friends Jordo and Dustil had met these really pretty girls and they had wanted to go.

But he couldn't complain; being stationed on Corellia was a young pilot's dream. Between the local's obsession with ships and the University with all of its pretty young co-eds nearby, he couldn't imagine anywhere better to be stationed. He'd been stationed at Corellia for a month already and it had been the most fun that he'd had in his life. Carth was happy that his squadron was scheduled to stay for at least another six months.

_Pretty women, fast ships. What's not to like?_

The house that she shared with several other university students was a large older brick building that rambled underneath the large kenalpa trees. It was typical of the houses in the student quarter, and the evidence of the students who lived on the street were everywhere, from the loud blaring music coming from the house across the street to the group of Mon Calamari youths lounging on the front porch of the house next door.

Leaves, which were strewn about the unkempt yard, crunched under Carth's feet as he walked up to the front door. He pushed the call button and waited. After standing on the front step for several minutes and feeling fairly conspicuous in his dress uniform, Carth tried again but still there was no answer. He was about to leave when he heard a voice coming from the backyard area. Wondering if that was where his missing date was, he followed the driveway around the rear of the house, when he realized that the talking was coming from a large garage. The large bay doors were wide open and a distinctly feminine voice floated from the back of the garage. His curiosity was piqued and Carth decided to investigate.

"Adjusting the internal modulator by point zero four degrees appears to have a stabilizing effect on the Girlon drivers," the voice said, from behind a large engine suspended from grav hooks mounted in the garage ceiling. After a few seconds of inspection he realized that it was a Mark 12 starfighter engine, very similar to the one in his own sublight fighter, a Z-27, except that this one had clearly been modified.

_Gorgeous!_

Intrigued, Carth moved around the engine and further into the fluorescent lit garage which looked like it was well used. The smell of engine grease and dust was a familiar one, his parent's garage, where he had tinkered for hours with his speeder smelled the same. Here the tools were arranged in tidy rows on the long work benches, instead of being haphazardly left around.

At the back of the garage, he finally found the owner of the voice speaking to a round spidery shaped diagnostic droid.

"Unfortunately, the adjustment creates a marginal decrease in engine efficiency," she said while studying a large holoscreen on the wall above the bench which displayed a bunch of numbers and equations. "Will try adjusting internal modulator by point zero three degrees."

Without acknowledging his presence, she returned her attention to the engine. She and the droid worked in tandem and the droid hovered over her shoulder, the long arms adjusting something that Carth couldn't see but was presumably the internal modulator.

"Excuse me," he said, but before he could ask her if she knew where his date was, she held up one small hand to silence him, without turning away from the engine.

The droid finished its adjustments and spoke in a string of high pitched beeps and squawks, that he couldn't follow but apparently she could, since she nodded and said "Start it up."

He tried again. "Um, I'm looking for-"

He was cut off by the sound of the engine starting, the high pitched whine filling the garage. The diagnostic droid hovered around the engine taking readings. She remained intent on the engine still ignoring him and he watched as a smile spread across her pretty face. She turned back to the holoscreen and watched the data stream across it. Her smile widened.

As she studied the data on the screen, Carth studied her. She had pretty delicate features and long blonde hair that was pulled into a sloppy braid. Her grey, utilitarian jumpsuit was smudged with grease and clung to her curvy figure. She reminded him of a snuggly unkempt kitten, the effect was damn cute.

Still smiling, Kitten, as he now thought of her, powered the engine down and returned to the holoscreen once again, losing herself in the long string of equations that fluttered across the screen. After another minute when he realized that she wasn't going to acknowledge him, he interrupted her again.

Annoyance crept into his voice as he said, "Look, I'm sorry to bother you, but I'm looking for Renie."

She looked up at him with a startled expression, as though she had forgotten that he was there. Carth saw a flash of exasperation in her deep blue eyes before a vaguely distracted look crossed her face, as though she were still thinking about her equations in the back of her mind.

"Renie's probably in the house," she said, her tone of voice conveying that it should be perfectly obvious to anyone who wasn't an idiot.

"I tried the front door. No one answered. I didn't want to just barge in."

"Oh."

Kitten looked at him like she didn't know what to do with him. He tried giving her a friendly smile, women usually ate that up, but she didn't appear to be affected at all. Carth got the impression that she wasn't really looking at him. After a few seconds of indecision she finally said, "Let me see if I can find her."

She pulled a grease rag out of her back pocket, wiped her hands and headed into the house. Carth followed, noticing how short she was. They entered through a back door into a kitchen area. She headed up the stairs as Renie herself came bouncing down them, almost colliding with Kitten.

"Carth!" Renie said, before giving him a full kiss on the lips. He was slightly taken aback by her exuberance. Not that he didn't enjoy kissing a good looking girl, but he just wasn't expecting that enthusiastic of a greeting, especially considering that he'd met her only two days ago. She pulled him into a hug and practically plastered her body into his. His eyes were still wide with shock and so he caught the eye roll and the irritated face that Kitten made behind Renie. Their eyes met and she flushed, embarrassed at being caught while he struggled not to laugh. He saw Kitten's lips twitch in amusement.

Renie disentangled himself from him. "I see you've met Morgana." From the way she said Kitten's name, it was obvious, even to Carth that the two women weren't exactly friends.

"Um, yeah." He looked down at Renie and noticed that she was dressed in a simple tunic and skirt. Either he was horribly overdressed or….

"I'm sorry I'm late," she said, this won another eye roll from Morgana, "I haven't had time to change yet. You don't mind waiting, do you?"

"Uh, no."

"Good. I'm sure Morgana won't mind keeping you company as I get ready."

Morgana apparently did mind because she looked highly annoyed. "Well actually, I'm in the middle of-"

"Don't be silly, Carth won't bother you out there, besides he's a pilot and you're an engineering student. I'm sure you'd love to see her engine and you'll both have lots to talk about." With that decided for them, Renie flounced up the stairs, leaving Carth and Morgana looking at each other in uncomfortable silence.

"Look, you don't have to entertain me," he said when he saw how irritated and exasperated she was. He was disappointed, he really would have liked to check the engine out closer, not to mention the girl, but he wasn't about to force his company on her. "It's okay, really."

She sighed, and looked up the stairs, "It's not you, I- " Apparently her manners kicked in because she said, "I'm sorry, I've been awfully rude, would you like something to drink?"

"Sure, what do you have?"

After considering all of their various options, they both decided on Corellian Spiced Ale. Once that was accomplished she seemed to be at a loss as to what to do.

He decided to try again. "If you don't mind, I would really like to take a look at the engine. I'll stay out of your way while you work."

Morgana looked at him as though she didn't quite believe him, but she nodded and he followed her back out to the garage. "I wonder how long she'll take."

She chuckled softly. "You must be new."

"What makes you say that?"

"If you'd been dating for a while, you wouldn't have bothered to come on time. She'll keep you waiting for at least an hour."

Carth was less than pleased; he knew that their friends were waiting for them. "Great. Does she usually expect you to entertain her dates while she gets ready?"

"Renie has a thing for pilots." Carth was surprised by the contempt in her voice. He wondered if the attitude was toward Renie, pilots in general or both. "She seems to think that they must be interested in engines."

"Heh. That shows you how much she knows. Most of the guys in my squadron are only interested in flying as fast as possible. They treat the techs like dirt." Carth himself thought that mistreating the person who kept their fighters maintained was pretty stupid. "I doubt they'd even know what kind of engine this is."

Her eyes narrowed as she considered him carefully. "What kind is it?"

"Mark 12."

Morgana looked at him with a newfound appreciation, as if she were seeing him for the first time. He was happy to see that she actually looked impressed. She started asking him a series of questions about it, most of which he knew the answers to. When he was finished, she was beaming and Carth wondered why he'd ever thought she was only pretty.

They got into a discussion about the merits of the Mark 12 over the previous model the Mark 8, and Carth realized that he was truly enjoying himself. She showed him her modifications, he could only follow some of the science, but he didn't care because she practically glowed as she spoke, she clearly loved what she did.

When the conversation turned to speeder engines, he told her about his new acquisition.

She grinned. "Well, bring it back here so I can take a look at it."

He did, and they spent the next forty five minutes hunched over the engine. He was momentarily alarmed when she started pulling parts off and began modifying it.

"Wait!" he protested, as she pulled a bunch of wires out and tossed them aside. "Don't we need that?"

She laughed, and her eyes filled with humor. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing. So, are you just going to stand there, or are you going to help?"

He gave her a wry look, pulled off his wool dress jacket and rolled up his sleeves. Together they pulled out the governor and reconfigured the drive matrix.

"There. You should be able to push the speeder to twice the speed you could before."

"Thanks."

They were standing next to each other, shoulders almost touching. Carth looked down at her and felt the slow, hot pull of attraction. He cleared his throat and she looked up at him and he forgot to breathe. From the wide eyed look on her face, so did she.

To his embarrassment, all he could manage was "Uh…"

She blinked and moved back and the moment was broken.

_Smooth Carth, real smooth._

Belatedly, his mind raced with all of the things that he could have said to her. _You're pretty, no, you're beautiful. We should go out some time. Have dinner with me._

_Damn it, I'm such an idiot._

He looked over at Morgana who was busy putting her tools away and saw that she had turned a really cute shade of pink.

He had just gathered up his nerve to try again when Renie's voice cut across his thoughts, "Carth, are you ready?" She stood just outside the bay doors, and her pretty was face scrunched up in irritation. He couldn't help but notice that she looked good in her slinky black dress, but she spoiled it by talking. "What did you do to your shirt?"

Carth looked down at his shirt and frowned. He didn't see what the big deal was, there was only a little bit of grease on his sleeve, although his hands were dirty. "Sorry," he said reflexively, although he really didn't mean it.

"Nevermind. Just clean up." She looked around at the garage and wrinkled her nose like it offended her. "Meet me around front when you're ready."

Renie sauntered back to the house.

Morgana handed him a grease rag and nodded towards the back of the garage. "There's a sink back there."

"Thanks."

He washed his hands in the sonic sink and she lowered the hood of the speeder. Carth grabbed his dress jacket and shrugged it on.

"Well," he said, unsure of how to proceed.

Morgana gave him a slight smile. "Have a good time. Let me know how she runs." She turned back to her workbench.

Carth walked over to her, "Wait." His palms started to sweat, but he managed to get it out this time. "Have dinner with me."

She looked like he'd shocked the hell out of her. It wasn't very encouraging.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I don't go out with pilots." He was thrown for a loop, while he wasn't the smoothest guy, he'd never been turned down before. Ever. Usually girls were impressed by the fact that he was a pilot. Even stranger, by the expression on her face he could tell that she was serious; she was sorry.

He was indignant. "Why not?"

"Well, for one thing, pilots are unintelligent, arrogant, cocky jerks."

Wounded, he said, "You think I'm a stupid arrogant jerk?"

"Oh no! Not you!" She quickly reassured him.

"Then what's the problem?"

She considered. "I…you're dating my roommate."

"We're not dating, I just met her a couple of days ago. It's not like she's my girlfriend or anything." He raked a hand through his hair. "Look, if I could get out of this thing tonight, I would." He meant it, he would have much rather stayed in the garage with her. "But it would be really inconsiderate of me to back out now. Besides, it's not like you're friends with her."

"True, but I'm really busy, I have to finish this project by the end of the month."

He wasn't sure why he was being so persistent, but he knew that he really wanted to go out with her.

"You have to eat don't you?"

"Well, yes."

"Then having dinner shouldn't be a problem."

"But I'm kind of seeing someone."

He was exasperated now. "He's fourth on your list of excuses, he can't be that important, can he?"

She just stared at him.

"Listen sister, if you don't like me, just say so." Carth was worried that this was actually the case.

"No, I do!"

"Then why won't you have dinner with me?"

"It's just that, well, I just don't have room in my life for this kind of distraction right now. I'm close to graduating and I have tons of work to do. You just don't fit into my plans."

It was the wrong thing for her to say if she wanted to discourage him, it was like waving a red flag in front of a ronto. That statement made him more determined than ever to convince her.

Carth smiled, and this time he could tell that it worked, because she blushed and stared. "It's just dinner. I think you can manage to fit dinner into your plans."

"I…guess…"

"Good. I'll pick you up at eight, Kitten." Before she could come up with another excuse to say no, he jumped into the speeder and guided it out of the garage, still grinning.

He could feel her watching him as he drove away, and he heard the irritation and disbelief in her voice. "Did you just call me Kitten?"


	2. Unintended Consequences

A/N: Here's the deal folks; despite my best efforts not to expand this into a full story, that's what has happened. I'm currently working on my post-kotor story right now, which will be my first priority. So I'm warning you now: this story will be updated sporadically. If that's a problem, you might want to turn back now. Otherwise, enjoy.

A big thank you to Lord Valentai and xenzen for the beta.

Again thanks for feedback. It is most helpful.

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 2 - Unintended Consequences**_

Morgana didn't stop working on the engine until the middle of the night. Exhausted from hours of work, she stumbled up to her room, cleaned up quickly in the 'fresher, pulled on her cotton pajamas, and fell gratefully into bed.

She'd only been asleep for a few minutes, when the sound of voices beneath her open window nagged her awake. Morgana rolled over and tried to ignore them, but they grew increasingly louder, until they were impossible to tune out. Slowly, her bleary mind registered that it was Renie, and she was shouting.

Wide-awake now, Morgana shoved the blankets aside and bolted out of bed. She crept over to her open window and looked down, where she had a clear view of the front doorstep almost directly below her. Renie and the Republic pilot were standing on the step. Her roommate had her hands on her hips and was shouting at Carth. Overcome by intense curiosity, Morgana perched on the windowsill and eavesdropped. The cool autumn air chilled her and she drew her knees up under her chin for warmth.

"You don't want to see me again?" Renie wailed.

"Uh, well..." Carth said, his chagrin illuminated by the front porch light. "You're a nice girl, Renie, but I've, um..." He paused, clearly not knowing what to say, and both Renie and Morgana waited with bated breath for his next words. He chose the half-tactful, half-truthful route, "...Already made plans with someone else."

_He was serious!_

Morgana almost fell off the windowsill in shock. After replaying their conversation over and over in her mind, despite her best efforts to remain focused on her work, she'd come to the conclusion that Carth must have been joking with her, or making fun of her or that someone else must have put him up to it. It was just too outrageous, and she'd angrily resolved to ignore him if he ever showed up again.

Renie's lips trembled in her prettiest and most effective pout. Morgana was almost moved to feel guilt, but Renie could be notoriously insincere at times, so she wasn't certain whether Renie was actually hurt or not. Renie looked up at Carth with her big green eyes and asked, "Did I do anything wrong?"

"No. Renie, I didn't mean for it to be like this. I'm really sorry."

Seeing that her pout didn't have the effect that she'd intended, Renie blasted Carth. "Everything was fine yesterday! Who is this girl anyway?" she demanded.

"Well, actually..."

_Oh, no, he isn't!_

But he did. "It's your roommate, Morgana."

_Blast!_

Renie's eyes narrowed as her pretty mouth twisted into a sneer. "Morgana? Now I know you're joking."

The pilot looked confused. "I'm not joking, Renie."

"You're going out with my roommate? You're turning me down because of _Morgana_?"

Carth rubbed the back of his neck with one hand sheepishly as he said, "Yeah."

Renie exploded, angry and embarrassed. Morgana's shock turned to sympathy and a healthy dose of guilt when Renie shouted, "I can't believe you! You jerk!"

The front door opened and Renie marched into the house, leaving Carth looking very guilty on the front doorstep. After standing there indecisively for another minute, Carth shoved his hands in his pockets and headed to his speeder. Morgana watched him disappear into the dark night.

Morgana shivered, slid off the lonely windowsill and closed the window, still in shock. She still couldn't believe that he hadn't been joking, but even though he had apparently been serious, she still was not going to go.

Sighing, she resolved to find Renie and begin the unpleasant task of explaining and apologizing for what had happened. Morgana wasn't sure how Carth had managed to get her to agree, despite her protests to the contrary, except that he was surprisingly intelligent and he had a truly spectacular smile. A smile that apparently had the effect of completely short-circuiting her common sense, and getting her to agree to something that she otherwise would have never even considered.

She opened her bedroom door and reluctantly padded out into the hallway, her bare feet slapping against the worn wooden floor. Renie's voice echoed through the corridor as she came stomping up the stairs. "Don't tell me to calm down! I'm going to give that snobby little bitch a piece of my mind!" Renie shouted.

For a second, Morgana almost bolted back into her room, but she realized that this confrontation was going to happen sometime, so she resigned herself to the fight that was coming and waited in the hall.

Renie rounded the corner and spotted her. She had a positively feral look on her face as she sputtered, "You, you, backstabbing _bitch_!" Cait, one of the other university students who shared the house, came up the stairs behind Renie. She was followed by a black-haired, almond-eyed man who was wearing a pilot's dress black uniform.

Morgana held up her hands in a placating gesture and tried to explain, "Renie-"

"How could you do that to me?" she shouted, her red curls bobbing as she trembled in outrage. "How could you betray me like this?" Morgana thought that was putting it a bit melodramatically, especially considering how Renie went through men like tissues, but she kept her mouth shut since she knew she was in the wrong. "I leave him with you for a few minutes and you steal my boyfriend from me?"

"Boyfriend? I thought you'd only known him for a couple of days," Morgana pointed out, forgetting for a minute that she had meant to apologize. As she spoke, two of their other roommates, Dora and Bez, poked their heads out into the hall, apparently curious as to what all the commotion was about. Nabat, a red Twi'lek and Morgana's best friend, came out of her room into the hallway, followed by her half-dressed, longtime human boyfriend, Colin.

"Well, he _would_ have been my boyfriend if it hadn't been for you," Renie spat. Nabat leaned against the wall, coiled her head-tails around her neck and watched the argument with great interest.

Morgana's cheeks started to burn from embarrassment at all of the scrutiny; she hated being the center of attention. Renie, however, seemed to be fueled by the impromptu audience.

"But you had to mess that up for me, didn't you? I knew that you were jealous of me, but I didn't think you'd stoop to anything this petty."

Morgana, surprised at Renie's audacity, crossed her arms and looked her roommate coolly in the eye. She knew it was going to get very nasty if she didn't do something quickly. Taking a steadying breath, she tried to salvage the situation, since they had to live together for at least the next six months.

"Renie, I'm not jealous of you," she stated as calmly as she could under the circumstances, wishing she were more adept at this kind of thing. "I can explain what happened."

"I don't _care_ about your explanation. I know why you did it. You've been jealous of me since we met. You just can't stand that I'm better looking, more interesting and more fun than you are. You think you're so much smarter than everyone else, but you're just a boring, mousy _nerd_."

Stung by Renie's words, since the last part had hit far too close to home, Morgana's intended apology was now completely forgotten. After three years of putting up with Renie's mercurial moods, short temper and general bitchiness, she'd finally had enough. "Why would I be jealous of _you_?" she asked in a frosty, clipped voice. "You're vain, mean, shallow, and inconsiderate. You seem to think that school is a place to find a husband."

Cait and Dora gasped in outrage for their friend, while Nabat's eyebrows shot skyward and a smile of supreme satisfaction spread across her face. Both of the men snickered; Colin openly while the pilot tried to hide it behind his hand. Cait threw the pilot an annoyed look, which mostly silenced him.

Renie gaped at Morgana, startled by the usually quiet girl's outburst. Set free at last, Morgana's irritation and annoyance bubbled over as she continued. "This might be a foreign concept to you, but I'm actually here to _learn_ something. All I want is to be left alone in my lab, but you foisted him off on me even though you knew I was busy and I didn't want you to, just like you always do. You know what? I was going to apologize to you--I actually felt guilty. But it's your own fault."

Morgana hated it when Renie sent pilots down to the makeshift lab, and she was sick of tripping over them while she tried to work. Sometimes they assumed she didn't know anything about engines and spouted off some half-baked drivel trying to impress her, when it was obvious they had no idea what they were talking about. Others stood around, pouting, not interested at all, waiting for Renie and complaining the whole time. A few had openly leered at her while she worked.

Renie's lips thinned as her eyes blazed viciously. "Do you know why I send them out there? It's because they appreciate me _so_ much more after spending an hour with _you_."

Morgana tried to think of something to say, but she was speechless. Nabat leaped to her defense, moving next to Morgana in a show of solidarity, and flicking her head-tails in a manner that Morgana knew was an incredibly rude gesture. She wondered if Renie even realized it.

Nabat snorted. "Good plan. Clearly it worked this time." She looked down at Morgana. "I like this guy already. He has taste."

Snarling, Renie pointed one perfectly manicured finger at the Twi'lek. "Shut it, Nabat! I wasn't talking to you."

Nabat smirked and shot back, "Truth hurts, doesn't it? It must really burn to discover that you're not as irresistible as you thought you were."

Renie's face turned a dangerous shade of red as she turned her attention back to Morgana. "Carth will get bored with you soon enough, and when he does, I'll be waiting." With that parting shot, she sailed past Morgana and Nabat into her own room. Dora followed her, presumably to comfort her friend, while Cait looked at Morgana with disgust and led the amused-looking pilot back down the stairs. As he left, he took one last look at Morgana over his shoulder and chuckled.

Bez, a solitary and intense Zabrak, shook her head and wandered back into her room, leaving Morgana, Nabat and Colin in the hallway. Nabat, waving Colin back to bed, grabbed Morgana's hand and dragged her into Morgana's neat and tidy bedroom.

Nabat's eyes sparkled and her head-tails twitched in amusement as she sprawled across Morgana's bed. "Alright, spill it."

Sighing, Morgana slumped down on the bed, leaned against the hard wooden headboard, and started filling Nabat in on what had happened in the garage. Although she was exhausted and really just wanted to crawl back into bed, she knew that Nabat would pester her until she pried the whole story out of her.

"This is just too _good_!" Nabat exclaimed in delight. Morgana couldn't help but laugh, because Nabat actually rubbed her hands together in glee. "So where are you two going?"

Morgana stared at her. "I'm not going to go." Shockingly, she felt an unexpected twinge of disappointment. It confused her; she should be angry that Carth had dragged her into this mess, not disappointed that she wasn't going to go.

"What do you mean, you're not going? You have to!"

Morgana rolled her eyes. "Nabat!"

"What?"

"I can't go!"

"Of course you can! Why wouldn't you?"

"Because it's wrong. I might not like Renie, but we really hurt her feelings."

Dismissing Renie's feelings with a wave of her red hand, Nabat declared, "She's a bitch. Who cares about her?" Morgana wasn't surprised by Nabat's attitude, since Nabat hated Renie and had told her off frequently and vigorously. Usually it was Renie and Nabat who fought, while Morgana ran for cover, trying not to get sucked into all the drama. At Morgana's wry look she said, "If your positions were reversed, do you think she'd do the same?"

"No. But-"

"But what? She'll get over it. She'll probably be with someone new tomorrow." Nabat's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You know, I think the problem isn't Renie. I think the problem is you like this guy."

Morgana colored as she focused on picking nonexistent lint off her green bedspread.

A smile crossed Nabat's face. "Ana?" she drawled.

Morgana, unable to fool her best friend, fessed up, although she was unable to meet Nabat's eyes. "I do," she admitted. "He's smart and interesting and he seems like a nice guy--for a pilot, anyway." She wrinkled her nose. "Although I'm not sure about this whole 'kitten' thing."

"Knowing Renie, he's probably very good-looking too."

_Only if you count a man with broad shoulders, big brown eyes, and an amazing smile as good-looking. _

Morgana had felt like an idiot when she'd finally realized how handsome he actually was. She shook her head. "He's exactly what I don't need."

After years of hard work, she'd finally gotten her life exactly how she wanted it. She was close to graduation and had several offers of lucrative employment. Most importantly, she was first in line to be awarded a grant, which would allow her to pursue the research that she'd always wanted to do. The competition was stiff, but she was a virtual lock for it. All she had to do was finish a few projects, keep her grades up and keep her professors happy. She wasn't about to let one pilot, no matter how good-looking, screw that up for her.

Nabat didn't appear to be very convinced of this. "No. He's _exactly_ what you need. You lock yourself away in that garage, and it's just not healthy."

Indignant, Morgana protested, "I do things."

"Colin and I have to practically kidnap you to get you to leave your lab. You work far too hard. You need to go out and do something fun. Get laid. Do something crazy."

"If you remember, I _do_ actually have a boyfriend."

"He's off-planet for a few more months, and besides, he's the one who wanted to see other people."

Morgana flinched and looked away. She'd been deeply hurt when Brell had declared that he was being smothered by their relationship, and that he wanted to "explore other avenues." Morgana wondered how you could smother someone when you weren't even on the same planet. Although she was sure he was taking full advantage of their decision, she hadn't been able to bring herself to do it.

"You put up with Brell because he's convenient and easy." Nabat rose and headed out the door. "You really should think about going. If you don't go, you'll always wonder. Besides, if you don't go, Renie wins."

She left Morgana deep in thought, trying to decide what to do.

* * *

"Onasi, you dog!" 

Startled, Carth looked up from the punching bag to see his best friend since grade school and fellow squadron member, Dustil Jarret, smirking at him. Stopping his morning workout, he watched Dustil, who looked far too amused to be up to anything good, swagger up to him.

Wondering why his friend looked so damned entertained, he barked, "What?"

Dustil started taping his hands up, preparing for his own workout. The fluorescent-lit gym was empty, even though it was mid-morning, since most of the officers who used it had partied pretty hard the night before. Until Dustil had appeared, his only company had been the cleaning droids that silently moved through the equipment. They left the cloying, heavy smell of disinfectant in their wake.

Since his night had been unexpectedly cut short, Carth had gotten to bed earlier than he'd expected, but he wondered why Dustil was here. Normally Dustil would have been sleeping off a hangover or in bed with some girl, since they were off duty until tomorrow afternoon. Presumably, that was where Jordo was right now. Carth wondered if Dustil's night had been as rocky as his own.

"You'll never guess what happened last night."

Carth wasn't in the mood for Dustil's amicably cryptic humor, since he was still feeling guilty about what had happened last night. Luckily, Dustil didn't wait for him to answer.

"So I took Cait back to her house last night, and we were on the couch. Things were going _very_ well until Renie came storming through, highly pissed." Dustil pulled the gloves over his hands as he continued. "Cait, being the nice person that she is, had to go find out why her friend was so upset. I, of course, being the nosy bastard that I am, followed her."

Carth winced, having a pretty good idea where this story was going.

"By the time I got upstairs, I saw Renie in a catfight with this cute blonde. Over _you_."

_Damn it!_

"What happened last night?" Dustil asked.

Carth filled Dustil in on what had happened yesterday; how he'd met Morgana, how he'd asked her out and what had happened when he'd taken Renie home. By the time he was finished, Dustil was clutching his stomach and laughing so hard that he could barely stand up.

"It's not funny, damn it!"

"Yeah it is!" Dustil's tone was a mixture of mockery and grudging admiration. "Only you, Onasi, would have two women fighting over you. What the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't mean to hurt her feelings. It's just that, well, Renie's kind of boring." Which was why, even though he felt guilty for what had happened with Renie, he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about asking Morgana out. As the evening had worn on, he'd come to realize that, while Renie might be good-looking, she had all the depth of a shallow mud puddle. He'd been bored senseless for most of the night, and when it was finally over, he'd been relieved. When he'd taken her home, she had--not so subtly-- invited him in. Renie's shallowness aside, he was honest enough to admit that, had he not met Morgana that night, it was an offer he would have probably taken. But when he'd refused, she'd demanded to know why, and things had escalated from there.

"Who cares? She's hot and she wants you. Since when do you care about whether she's interesting?"

_Since I met a pretty blonde engineer._

Flushing, Carth ignored Dustil's question and turned back to the punching bag. In between blows he asked, "So is she angry?"

Dustil looked at him as if he were an idiot. "Yeah, Renie's angry."

"No, not her. Morgana."

"Who? Oh, the blonde." Dustil considered. "I don't know. It was hard to tell. She was too busy getting blasted by Renie. But I have to say, she seemed to be holding her own fairly well."

Carth winced again and mentally kicked himself for his stupidity, realizing that he should have known better than to drag Morgana into this, and wondering whether he'd just blown his chance.

"You owe me, Onasi. Things were going really well, and then Cait has to go comfort her friend. I ended up by myself last night. Just me and my right hand."

Carth snickered at his friend's irritation. "Aw, come on. You should be used to it by now."

Dustil threw him a dirty look and continued, "I don't think you appreciate the weight of my sacrifice. This girl better be worth it."

The predictable trash talking followed as Carth turned back to his punching bag, trying to figure out how to make it up to Morgana.


	3. Bad Day

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 3 – Bad Day **_

Morgana was having a very bad day.

She stood at the lecture podium gathering up her datapads as the last of her students filed out of the cavernous lecture hall, twittering and shooting speculative looks in her direction. Morgana did her best to ignore them, but her face was still burning in mortification. Finally, the last of the undergraduate students left, leaving her blessedly alone.

As she sank into a chair and rubbed her temples, Professor Obrin strutted into the room, looking very nonplussed.

_Great. Just great._

"Morgana, I need to have a word with you." Pulling up a chair, the professor continued. "I understand that you were thirty minutes late this morning." He folded his rail-thin, fussy form into the seat, pinning her with his disapproving gaze as he crossed his arms over his slight chest.

"I'm really sorry, Professor. I overslept. It won't happen again."

After the confrontation with Renie and the subsequent conversation with Nabat, she'd gotten to bed incredibly late. Normally that wouldn't have been a problem, but for the last month she'd been putting in sixteen-hour days between classes, schoolwork, teaching and working in her lab. In addition, Professor Obrin was pushing her to get the engine up to double its efficiency by the end of the month. Morgana was completely worn out. What had happened with Renie was the final straw, and she'd overslept. It was something she hadn't done since grade school, and she'd been highly embarrassed when she'd arrived at the class almost thirty minutes late.

"I should hope not! Morgana, I put a lot of trust in you by letting you teach my class."

Morgana suppressed the eye roll; he hadn't _let_ her do anything. As the head of the small craft department of the Corellian School of Starship Engineering, he'd flat out _told_ her that she had to teach the class, even though she was only a teaching assistant, informing her that he didn't have the time to waste teaching undergraduate courses. Since he was on the committee for the research grant that she wanted and the head of the department, Morgana had sucked it up and done it, even though she was terrified every time she stepped up to the podium.

Morgana truly hated standing up in front of the class of two hundred and forty-five students twice a week, and it was only made bearable by the fact that five-space dimensional math was something she could do in her sleep. As long as she could stay focused on the numbers, she could choke down her panic and do it.

But today had been horrific. Flustered because she was late, she hadn't been able to recover from the stares of her students. She's stumbled through the entire lesson, and she was pretty sure she had been blushing the entire time.

Professor Obrin, caught up in his own self-importance, delivered a thirty-five minute lecture about the dangers of distractions and the need for Morgana to stay serious and focused. Bored, Morgana fixed a polite but studious expression on her face, keeping an eye on the chronometer on the wall behind Obrin as he droned on happily to his captive audience. She was in the middle of some complex mental calculations, trying to determine what the drag coefficient of a Mark 12 engine would be if she modified the positron field, when his words snapped her back to the present.

"...And we wouldn't want anything to happen that would jeopardize your chances for the Vanush grant, now, would we?"

"No!" she said hastily as panic shot through her, jolting her out of her daydream of equations and numbers.

"Good. Now see that it doesn't happen again." Professor Obrin crossed his legs in a supremely prissy motion. "Now, tell me about how the engine modifications are going."

While Morgana filled him in on the progress of her project, she resolved to buckle down harder and not let anything get in her way.

* * *

Having finished his morning workout and lunch at the officer's mess, Carth was about to enter his apartment when his squad leader and neighbor, Julia Skye, stopped him in the hall.

"Onasi, do you have a minute?"

Since they were off duty, he gave her a casual salute and a cocky smile. "Sure, Commander, what's up?"

For the last two years he and Julia had served in the same squadron together. Recently, she'd been promoted to squadron leader, and Carth couldn't think of a better choice. Not only was she an excellent pilot, but she excelled at keeping the rowdy young pilots in line. If she hadn't been five years older than him and most likely sleeping with Captain Karath, Carth would have been tempted to take a shot at her. As it was, she was kind of like the older sister he'd never had.

"Karath wants to see you tomorrow, before you go on duty."

Carth blinked in surprise. He'd met Captain Karath almost two years ago, just before his graduation from the Fleet Academy. In fact, Captain Karath was the reason he was still in the most prestigious fighter squadron in the Fleet, and not back at home in shame with a dishonorable discharge, or worse, a court-martial to his name. He owed the Captain his entire career.

"Did he say why?" As much as he admired the Captain, part of him couldn't help but feel like a schoolboy who was being called in front of the school principal. Reflexively, he racked his brain for what he might have done wrong.

"No. But I think it has to do with the new XM-17 fighter. I'm guessing he wants you to do the test flying."

"Really? That's great!"

The XM-17 was the brand-new experimental fighter from Republic Seinar Systems, Inc., the Republic's biggest supplier of fighters and interdictor ships. Getting to fly it would not only be an honor, but also fun as hell.

Julia's eyes sparkled with humor as she grinned and added, "That is, of course, if you have the time, what with so many women fighting over you and everything."

Carth groaned. "Not you, too." He'd endured mockery from Dustil, Jordo and half the squadron all throughout lunch. "How did you find out?"

The wry look on her face spoke volumes. "You should know by now that Dustil has a pretty big mouth. Besides, you know how it is. We're one big, dysfunctional family. Nothing stays secret for long."

Carth sighed, knowing it was true. In some ways, the squadron was worse than a group of gossiping old women.

_Ah, hell. Since she knows, I might as well ask her._

"Uh, Julia, you're a girl..."

Julia tried to control her grin but failed abysmally. "I was the last time I checked."

He ignored her sarcasm and continued, "I need a way to make it up to her, for dragging her into this mess."

"Which one? The blonde or the redhead?"

"The blonde."

"Flowers," came the cultured male baritone from behind him, and Carth almost jumped out of his shoes in surprise. He turned to see Captain Saul Karath regarding him in almost complete seriousness, but his grey eyes glinted in amusement. "If you're in trouble with a girl, flowers are the only way to go."

Carth was speechless as he just stood in the hallway, stupefied, face burning in embarrassment.

"Ooh, that's good," Julia chimed in, nodding. "That'll work."

"And the more trouble you're in, the bigger and more expensive the bouquet should be." Saul paused and considered for a second, adding, "It worked with my ex-wife, anyway." Julia flashed Saul an annoyed glance that Saul either completely missed or completely ignored as he continued. "Does this have anything to do with the two women who were fighting over you last night?"

As he answered, Carth wondered if it would be possible to actually die from embarrassment. The way things were going today, it looked like he was going to find out. "You heard about that, sir?" he croaked.

"Oh, yes. I'm afraid it's all over the base now. Colonel Tani, Commander Aja and I were just laughing about it a few minutes ago."

_Dustil, I'm going to kill you!_

The various revenge scenarios galloping through his mind were interrupted by Julia's question. "Where are you taking her?"

"I don't know. I, uh, hadn't figured that out just yet."

Saul's bushy brown eyebrows rose. "You're going in without a plan? I thought I taught you better than that!"

"Well, it's just a date, sir."

"Son, keeping a woman happy is far more complex than any battle plan."

Carth didn't know what to say to that. He just stood, frozen, wondering when the pain would end.

"I'll tell you what," Saul said, lips quirking. "I know this place. Classy, expensive, nice. It's one of the most exclusive restaurants in Coronet. I'll make a reservation for you."

It wasn't the kind of thing Carth had had in mind, but he didn't want to offend the Captain, so he said, "Um, thank you, sir."

Saul dismissed his thanks with a quick wave of his hand. "It's the least I can do, Lieutenant, since you've provided us with so much... entertainment. I'll send you the details once I've set it up."

Thankfully, Captain Karath had somewhere else to be, somewhere that included Julia, because after a brief conversation about their meeting tomorrow, they left him standing in the hall, wondering if he was ever going to live this down.

* * *

Morgana opened the front door to the sound of an earsplitting shriek and a wet crash, followed by crying, cursing and shouting. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, she quietly backed out the door before she could be spotted and walked around the house, seeking refuge in her lab.

As she tinkered with her engine, she grew more and more frustrated. Usually, working in her makeshift lab was soothing, and she could lose herself completely in her work, but today she just couldn't seem to find the ability to concentrate. After trying to focus for about half an hour, Morgana gave up. With a disgruntled huff, she tossed her air wrench aside and powered down the engine and equipment.

She was washing her hands in the sonic sink when Bez appeared, carrying a bucket of absolutely enormous white Saselea blooms, some of which looked rather flattened. She was followed by Nabat, who was grinning from ear to ear.

"I thought I should bring these out to you before they caused anymore commotion," Bez said as she set the bucket down on the workbench, where they looked rather out of place.

Nabat pouted at Bez, but the serious Zabrak was completely unaffected. "You had to ruin my fun." At Morgana's puzzled expression, she gestured to the flowers. "They're for you."

Speechless, Morgana stared at the bucket of flowers as though they were completely alien to her. No one had ever sent her flowers before. Reaching out, she touched the achingly soft petals with the tips of her fingers. Giving into impulse, she buried her face in the blooms, and the heady, elegant scent filled her nose. She couldn't help but smile.

After a few seconds of indulging herself, she stepped back and took in the ugly brown utility bucket and the partially flattened blooms. "Why are they in a bucket?"

"Oh, well, that was kind of my fault," Nabat said as she parked herself on a high metal stool, not sounding the least bit apologetic.

"Kind of your fault?" Bez was practically twitching in outrage. The normally stoic and silent Zabrak clenched her fists as if she'd like to smack the smirk off of Nabat's pretty face. "It was completely your fault!"

"Hey, I didn't tell her to throw them at me!"

"No, but you provoked her on purpose!"

Nabat didn't deny that accusation. "Is it my fault she has no self-control?"

Completely confused now, Morgana held up her hands to stop the bickering. "Wait, what are you talking about?"

"Tell her," Bez demanded, crossing her arms and looking at Nabat as though she were a bratty, recalcitrant child.

"The flowers came a couple of hours ago," Nabat said, still grinning unrepentantly. "When I saw that they were for you, I was going to bring them out to the lab so you'd see them, but I decided to have a little fun first."

"What did you do?" Morgana asked, even though she wasn't sure she wanted to know about Nabat's antics.

"I just put them on the kitchen counter, where everyone would see them, and then sat at the table doing my homework and waited," Nabat said with mock innocence. "And you missed it! It was so awesome!" As Nabat continued, Morgana could feel the beginnings of a headache blossom in the back of her head. "When Renie came home, she saw them and assumed that they were for her. But when she saw that your pilot..."

"He's not my pilot."

Nabat ignored Morgana's protest, talking enthusiastically right over her, "...Had sent them to you and not her, she got pretty pissed off."

"They were shouting so loud I could hear them halfway across the house," Bez said, shaking her head in disdain.

"Hey, I didn't say anything that wasn't true. Anyway, she got so mad that she actually threw them at me!" Nabat didn't seem to be very concerned about that at all. Rather, she looked positively delighted.

"Oh, Nabat..." Morgana said as she dragged a tired hand across her face. "Why couldn't you just leave her alone?"

"Because she's a bitch and she deserves it. I was going to leave them on the counter after I cleaned them up, for Cait and Dora to see, but Bez wouldn't let me."

"I think you've caused enough trouble for today," Bez said over her shoulder as she walked out of the garage.

"Anyway, here's the card." Nabat handed Morgana a crumpled-up and mangled square. "He's taking you to the Emerald Room."

Morgana groaned as she read the note. The Emerald Room was one of the fanciest, most pretentious restaurants in all of Coronet. Brell had taken her there once, and she'd hated everything about it, from the overbearing wait staff and the snobby patrons, to the overpriced and completely bland menu.

"I was hoping for something... simpler," Morgana said.

"So you decided to go."

Sighing, Morgana looked at the mangled card and the bucket of partially smashed flowers. She had to admit that, as misguided as he was, she was flattered that he'd made the effort. "Yeah, I guess I have."

Nabat bounced off the chair. "Well, come on, then. We don't have much time to get you gussied up, but I have just the thing..."

As Nabat talked, Morgana grabbed the bucket and followed her friend into the house.

* * *

Once again, a big, huge thanks to Lord Valentai and xenzen for the beta.

Also, thanks for the reviews/feedback everyone. They really make writing a lot more fun.

Alice the Raven: I considered your point (that the testing would have to be done in the lab) when I began this story, but I figured that the sub light ion drives of space fighters probably burn much cleaner and be quieter than real life gas turbine engines, so I didn't see any harm in Morgana having a workshop in the garage. I based her workshop on the auto body shop that my father had at our house. However, I realize that planes are different than cars, so your point is well taken.

By the way, since you are in the military, please let me know if something is incorrect or just doesn't ring true.

gamorrean princess: The current plan is for the story to cover up until they get married (about six months story time), because Morgana and Carth as wife and husband will be explored further in my other story, _Chasing Redemption_.


	4. Hidden Depths Part One

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 4 – Hidden Depths (Part One)**_

Morgana studied her reflection in the full-length mirror as she fought down the worst case of nerves that she'd ever had. It felt like an entire flock of hoverbirds had taken flight in her stomach; the only other time she'd felt _this_ nervous was the first time she'd had to step up to the podium in her five-space dimensional math class.

Running her callused fingers over the soft black ramordian velvet of the short dress Nabat had loaned her, she stepped away from the mirror and moved over to the window, looking for Carth's speeder. Other than a pair of Mon Calamari walking down the sidewalk, whom she recognized as her neighbors, the street was quiet and empty.

For a few minutes, she waited by the windowsill, panic mounting as all of the doubts and reservations she had crept through her mind, and not for the first time, she wished that she had called this off.

And then for another horrible minute she worried that she'd been stood up.

_Get a grip!_

She wished Nabat were here, but the troublesome Twi'lek had gone to work, abandoning her to face this ordeal alone. Realizing that she was on the brink of a full-blown panic attack, she walked over to her desk and picked up the text on applied thermodynamics and hyperspace drives. Instead of sitting at her desk, Morgana returned to the windowsill, so that she would be able to see his speeder pull up in front of the house. That way she could go out and meet him, and with a little luck they could avoid Renie.

Losing herself in the physics, she slowly began to relax. Morgana was so absorbed in the text that when he spoke, she almost dropped her datapad.

"Hey," he said.

Morgana had left the door to her room open so that she'd be able to hear him when he came to the front door. Apparently that plan had failed, because she looked up to see him standing in the doorway, feet apart, broad shoulders straight, hands shoved in the pockets of his dress uniform, grinning confidently.

Carth raked a hand through his thick brown hair as his gaze glided appreciatively over her. "You look great."

Morgana was certain that she flushed all the way down to her toes. Somehow, she managed to speak. "Thanks. You, too."

She meant it. He was wearing the dress uniform that he'd worn the night before, and he looked rather, well, gorgeous. The stark black accented by the red and gold should have looked ridiculous, but instead it looked sharp. Gold buttons gleamed against the crisp black fabric, and Morgana had the sudden urge to run her fingers across the material.

_Be honest. It's not really the material you want to touch._

Carth moved further into her bedroom, and he seemed to dominate the small room. Morgana wasn't sure how she felt about him being in here; it just seemed like such an invasion of her personal space. However, he seemed to be making the most of it, and she could tell that he was scrutinizing everything as his gaze swept over the tidy room. He studied the bookshelves where datapads and information chips were neatly stacked next to small pieces of machinery and electronics that she found interesting. His eyes widened slightly as he discovered her sadly unused art supplies, pile of concept drawings, and landscapes of home that she had sketched. She wasn't sure if it was her imagination, but his gaze seemed to linger a bit too long over the simple green bedspread that covered the old, rickety wooden bed, which made Morgana even more uncomfortable.

When he finally noticed the flowers on her desk, he looked up at her. "Oh, good, you got the flowers I sent you."

Morgana nodded. She'd managed to scrounge up a spare vase in the kitchen and salvage most of the blooms. Their elegant scent hung in the air. "Thank you. They're beautiful."

Carth's cocky smile turned rueful. "I'm glad you like them. I heard about what happened last night with Renie."

Mortified that he had found out about her argument with her roommate, she could feel her cheeks heating, but he looked earnestly apologetic when she met his eyes. "It was my fault, and I figured it was the least I could do," Carth continued.

Carth was so sincere that Morgana decided not to tell him about the ruckus the flowers had caused.

"It wasn't entirely your fault. I agreed to go." She frowned, still unsure of how he had managed to get her to agree. "And that argument has been a long time coming. How did you…"--her voice trailed off, then she remembered--"The pilot?"

"Yeah, he's a…"--he hesitated for a second as a look of complete annoyance and exasperation crossed his handsome face--"_friend_ of mine."

Although she was curious as to why he seemed annoyed with his friend, she didn't want to be nosy and ask, so instead she slid off the windowsill, smoothed out her dress, and gestured to the open door. "Maybe we should go before Renie sees that you're here." Morgana didn't want to cause another scene; she wasn't sure her frayed nerves could handle it.

"She's not here," he said, clearly embarrassed now. "She was on the way out the door when I got here."

Morgana cursed inwardly at her absentmindedness. "I'm so sorry. I should have been paying attention and met you at the curb."

"It's alright," he said, even though he was frowning. "She was, um, unexpectedly friendly, actually."

_I just bet she was._

Morgana's stomach sank as she wondered what Renie was up to. It couldn't possibly be good.

"I'm not sure what that was about. After last night, I thought…" With a confused shake of his head, he dismissed Renie. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. Ready?" he asked, his smile returning.

Morgana nearly froze in panic, but somehow she managed a tentative smile and nod.

_Not really. But it's too late now…

* * *

_

When the arrogant waiter finally appeared at their table, Carth figured that they were in for a rocky night.

Everything had been going great until they had reached the Emerald Room. At first he'd been worried, as she seemed a bit aloof when he picked her up, and he'd wondered whether she was still mad at him for the whole mess with Renie. But he'd scored some major points on the way to the restaurant by insisting that she drive his speeder. Although she'd protested at first, he'd coaxed her into it, and in the end his persistence paid off. She'd dimpled prettily as she drove, her delight at driving the high-performance speeder obvious, and he was glad to see the quiet tension that'd surrounded her melt away.

However, once they got to the restaurant, everything changed. Morgana, who had talked openly on the way, withdrew into herself upon entering the restaurant; the warm and interesting woman he'd seen just moments before grew quiet once again. Even worse, they'd been forced to wait for their table, even though they had a reservation, because a famous Corellian holonet star and her boyfriend had made an unexpected stop. Tables had to be shuffled around to accommodate her, and since a mere Republic lieutenant and his guest were the patrons of lowest importance, they were the last to be seated. He tried not to pace and show his irritation too much, but after thirty minutes of waiting, his temper was at boiling point.

The restaurant itself was classy and expensive, with the pretentious hint of money, power, and influence hanging in the air. Dark wood paneling was illuminated by the glow of candlelight, and the soft sounds of stringed instruments underscored the polite murmur of small talk. People obviously came to this restaurant to see and be seen, and Carth felt conspicuous and out of place. It seemed that the other patrons were looking at them as if they were wondering who had let the rabble in. Morgana clearly felt as conspicuous as he did; she sat on the bench in the waiting area, withdrawing into herself more and more as the minutes dragged past. That would have been bad enough, but when they finally got their table, the waiter, a young human male, scowled down at them, or more accurately, at Carth.

As the waiter began to serve them, he was all condescending politeness, barely masking a violent hostility. Carth immediately picked up on the waiter's animosity and struggled to remain silent, swallowing his annoyance since he figured that blowing up at the server wouldn't accomplish anything except put Morgana off even more. Besides, the waiter didn't do or say anything objectionable, exactly, but his dislike was evident from the stony glares and the scathing tone of his voice. Carth marveled at how he could manage to make _"What kind of wine would you like, sir?"_ sound like a scathing insult. Finally, the waiter left them to fetch their wine.

Wondering what the hell had tripped that guy's trigger, Carth asked, "Is it just me, or does that guy hate me?"

She nodded, and to his astonishment, she didn't look all that surprised. "It's not you personally. It's your uniform."

He looked down at his uniform, frowning; he thought the black, gold, and red uniform looked rather sleek, actually. "He hates my uniform?" He had wanted to wear something else, but he didn't have anything else fancy enough for this restaurant.

"No. Well, yes." Morgana folded her hands on her lap as she explained. "I mean… you're a Republic officer, right?" When he nodded, she continued. "You must know that not everyone in this sector is happy that the Republic Fleet is here."

Carth tried to remember as much as he could from the cultural briefing that he and the rest of his squadron had received when they'd been stationed on Corellia. He knew that the Corellian Sector was a loose conglomeration of twenty-four solar systems, of which the Corellian System was the most prosperous and most populated, in addition to being the center of their government. The Corellian system itself was an astrophysical rarity, with five habitable planets called the Five Brothers: Corellia, Selonia, Drall, and the twin worlds of Talus and Tralus, which all orbited the same sun.

While the Corellian Sector was located near many of the Republic's core worlds and systems, Corellian natives had a notoriously isolationist mindset, but Carth hadn't thought that translated into hostility. He'd been stationed on the planet for a month, and had never encountered anything like this. Then again, he hadn't really gone out in public in his uniform, either.

"Even though we're here to help stop the piracy in the Outlier Systems?" he asked, referring to the systems that were on the fringe of the Corellian Sector, and were considered backwater planets.

"A lot of those planets are poor agricultural worlds. They make a lot of money providing safe havens to smugglers, bandits, and pirates, so they aren't very happy with the Republic. And our waiter is from one of those planets."

"How can you tell?"

"His accent."

Carth nodded, although he couldn't tell the difference between her accent and the waiter's, other than Morgana's was much more subtle. He thought her accent was very attractive, actually; it made words sound like they were being poured from her lips.

"That and his _min min_ earring."

She was referring to the three-piece gold earring on the waiter's left ear, with two pieces at the top and on the earlobe connected by a thin gold chain. He had seen a lot of Corellian men wearing them, but he'd had no idea that the jewelry meant anything. "The earring tells what family and planet he is from, what his relationship status is. Things like that."

Carth blinked. He'd had no idea that a simple earring could convey so much meaning.

She shrugged. "But it's not just the Outlier worlds. Many of the people here on the Five Brothers aren't happy about the Republic Fleet being here, either."

"Yeah, I heard that Corellians are very independent like that. What about you?" he asked with a playful smile, hoping to crack through her calm reserve.

She blinked at him, a bit taken aback. "What about me?"

"What do you think about the Republic being here?"

He'd been hoping for something along the lines of: _"Oh, well, I'm glad that you're here, Carth."_ Instead, she shocked him by taking his question at face value.

"Oh. I hadn't really thought about it that much before." She sat in silence and chewed on her lip, considering her answer, and Carth's throat went dry. Her answer pulled him out of his study of her very full lips. "I guess I can see their point."

Startled, Carth couldn't keep the disbelief out of his voice. He'd thought that it was pretty obvious that the Republic was doing the right thing by trying to put an end to the piracy. "You can? You think it's okay for pirates and bandits to use the Outlier planets as a base for hijacking and attacking ships?"

Carth could tell that he'd hit a nerve when her back stiffened and she straightened up in her chair. "No, but the Republic Fleet coming in and taking the place of the Corellian Defense Force is rather high-handed."

Although he realized that discussing politics on their very first date was probably a very unwise idea, he simply couldn't let her statement pass. "Your government asked for us to come, to help the Corellian Defense Force stop the spread of piracy across the Outlier Systems," he pointed out, feeling compelled to defend the Republic's presence in the sector.

Morgana crossed her arms and answered with a prim frostiness that made him wince. "Only because the Republic Senate threatened to impose trade sanctions against our system unless we let you in. It would kill our economy, so it's not like we had much of a choice."

Still he couldn't quite let the subject go. "That's because the pirates don't attack just Corellian ships. They use your systems as their base and come into ours to commit their crimes. What were we supposed to do? Let the piracy continue?"

"No, but you have to understand how much our independence means to us. A lot of people are not happy that we belong to the Republic. So when the Republic Fleet comes here and tells us that we're incapable of taking care of the piracy ourselves, people get angry. There is talk about how the Republic won't stop with just the pirates. That their real goal is to take more and more direct control of our systems."

"Ah, well, that I understand," he said, glad that she was not actually defending the pirates themselves. "When my homeworld decided to join the Republic, there was a lot of debate over how much control the Republic would have."

Telos had just joined the Republic less than five years ago, thanks in large part to the efforts of his mother, who was a staunch pro-Republic supporter. Personally, he thought that Telos joining the Republic was a good thing, though he probably would have been disowned by his mother if he didn't, but a lot of people on his homeworld had vehemently disagreed, and the debate had been heated and vicious. "But don't you think that Corellia being a member of the Republic is a good thing?"

She cocked her head to the side and her delicate brows knit together as she considered his question thoughtfully. "Honestly, I'm not sure why Corellia needs to be a member of the Republic at all. I'm not sure what we gain, other than having to pay extra taxes."

As a Republic officer, he couldn't help but feel indignant. "For one thing, you gain the protection of the Republic Fleet."

"But we've always been able to protect ourselves with the Corellian Defense Force. We don't need the Republic Fleet for that."

Carth was damn near speechless at that statement. He just stared at her as she continued.

"In fact, when we asked for the Republic's help during the war with the Aqualish over Goroth Prime, they ignored our request," she pointed out, unconcerned that he was practically sputtering in front of her.

"That was a war over mineral rights between two Republic planets. You couldn't expect the Republic to choose sides!" As far as Carth knew, the fighting had broken out because Goroth Prime's planetary governor had sold conflicting mineral rights to both the Aqualish and Corellian miners for billions of credits.

"If the Republic had helped mediate, or made the Aqualish back down, the Scouring wouldn't have happened, and all of those people on Goroth Prime would still be alive."

The Scouring was the name for the genocide and planetary destruction that had happened when the warring mining companies, fed up because neither could control the planet, decided that no one could have it. Both the Corellians and the Aqualish had sent waves of asteroids at the planet, killing billions of Gorothites. Carth wondered what kind of monsters could justify decimating an entire planet's population for any reason, but especially over something as trivial as mineral rights.

"You can't be defending what happened on Goroth Prime!" he stated, horrified that she might be defending the slaughter of an entire planet of people.

Although her voice remained calm and frosty, her eyes narrowed as she looked at him incredulously. "No, of course not! All I'm saying is that there was a Republic governor of that sector who could have put a stop to all of it, but she didn't. I don't see how having a Republic governor helped that situation at all."

"Well, Governor Bay should have realized that there was trouble brewing and put a stop to it," he admitted with a frown. "The problem wasn't the Republic government, but the incompetence of the governor. If she had been doing her job, that wouldn't have happened."

"But that's the problem," she insisted, looking at him intently as she debated with him. "The Republic Senate thought that putting a bureaucrat like Governor Bay in charge of an entire sector was a good idea. The Republic is a large, unwieldy bureaucracy that bumbles about and tries to impose its laws from afar on cultures that it does not understand. I simply don't see how their presence helps anything."

"I know that the Republic is flawed, but overall it does good things. What about the Senate's laws about relations between Humans, Selonians and Drall?" The Selonians and Drall were the other non-human sentients that were native to the Corellian system. The Republic Senate had recently passed a series of laws that forced the three races to cohabitate peacefully. From what Carth understood about the situation, only the threat of Republic intervention had kept the three races from going at each other's throats. He sincerely hoped that Morgana wasn't one of those anti-alien hatemongers.

Earnest chagrin crossed her pretty face as she spoke. "I have to admit that those laws are probably a good thing, even though they are very unpopular. I'm ashamed to say that without them there would probably be violence. So in that case, perhaps being part of the Republic is a good thing."

Carth was mollified a bit by that admission, although the assertion about not needing the Republic Fleet still stung, probably more than it should, which was why his tone came out slightly sharper than he intended. "Well, I'm glad that you think so."

There was an awkward pause in the conversation, and Carth was uncertain as to how to continue. He noticed that their waiter, who had been absent this entire time, was walking past their table with a tray of fancy-smelling food perched precariously on his shoulder. Carth's stomach rumbled, and he realized how very hungry he actually was. He resolved to grab their waiter's attention when he walked past again, but the man seemed to just disappear.

Morgana didn't seem to notice any of this; she just looked at him thoughtfully and said, "But there are other problems, too. There are a lot of people who worry that our culture and traditions are being corrupted by outside ideas."

The waiter was immediately forgotten in the wake of his burning curiosity. "What about you? Do you think that the Republic is a corrupting influence?" This time he surprised himself by expecting and hoping for an earnest answer. Usually by this time during a date, he would have had her laughing at stories about the antics of his squad or gasping at some of his military adventures. He wasn't used to having to think while having dinner with a pretty woman, and while the sensation wasn't unpleasant or even unwelcome, it was unfamiliar territory that he was in. This wasn't the smoothest date that he'd ever been on, but it was definitely the most interesting, and he was surprised by how much he really wanted to know what she thought.

She dismissed that idea with a shake of her head. "No. It's one of the reasons why I came to Corellia, instead of staying on my homeworld. The people here in the capitol tend to be more open to outside ideas."

"You're not from Corellia?"

"No," she said, "I'm from a small town on Talus. The people there are very…"--she paused and sighed--"traditional."

Carth's curiosity was piqued. "And you left to get away from those traditions?"

"Kind of. I left to go to the University." Morgana looked away and fiddled with the small gold pendant that hung around her neck against her creamy pink skin.

A bemused smile crossed his face as he spoke. "But you wanted to see more than just your small town, right? To go out and see the rest of the galaxy? To go off and do something on your own?" Morgana looked up at him, blue eyes wide, astonished that he could relate. He chuckled; it was a motivation that he understood completely. "I know how you feel. That's why I left Telos and joined the Fleet."

"Really?" she asked, pushing a strand of her long blonde hair behind one ear. Carth wanted to reach out and run his fingers through her unbound hair, which fell in golden waves almost to the middle of her back. He cleared his throat and concentrated on answering her question instead.

"Yeah. I mean, I love my homeworld, but Telos is a small colony out at the end of the Hydian Trade Route. Growing up there was great, but…"

"After a while, it seems rather small," she finished, a tentative smile of appreciation crossing her lips.

He nodded in understanding, his smile growing, happy that they were finally connecting. "Exactly. Joining the Fleet was a way to see the galaxy. Besides, I've always wanted to fly. But my parents were pretty devastated that I wanted to leave." He felt the familiar twinge of guilt that he always did when he thought of home. "They'd worked so hard to help build the colony, and then I go and join the Fleet and leave the first chance I get. Even though they're both staunch supporters of the Republic, I don't think they'd planned on losing both of their sons to it."

Carth was glad to see her begin to open up a bit, and he sympathized with the guilt echoing through her voice as she said, "Mine, too. It took a lot of convincing, to get them to agree."

"What would you have done if they hadn't?"

She grimaced. "I would have had to stay, at least until I turned eighteen."

At that, panic shot through Carth as he regarded her across the table. He'd thought that she wasn't much younger than him.

_What if she's underage?_

As the mental image of Morgana's angry traditional Corellian father hunting him down with a blaster rifle flashed though his mind, he asked, "Ah… how old are you?"

When she said, "Twenty," he nearly slumped in relief. It must have been written all over his face because she looked rather bemused. "I left Talus when I was fifteen to go to the University. The only reason they let me come was because I lived with one of my brothers for a while."

"You were accepted to the University when you were fifteen?" That seemed awfully young to Carth. From what Renie had said, the usual entrance age was eighteen or nineteen.

She flushed as she concentrated on straightening the already-perfect table settings. "Yes."

"And the normal program takes three to four years, right?"

She nodded, and for the life of him he couldn't figure out why she was so embarrassed. Then it occurred to him that maybe it was taking her longer than she'd thought because she was having academic trouble, which made her stay another year. While he couldn't imagine someone as obviously intelligent as Morgana having problems at school, he couldn't think of any other reason she'd be embarrassed.

Exasperated with himself for sticking his foot in his mouth, he scrambled to do damage control. "But…um… five years isn't all that unusual, right? I mean, maybe you took some time off or something? School is hard, and, ah…"

She looked at him as though he'd gone insane and then, inexplicably, she laughed. He looked at her, stupefied, wondering what the hell she found so damn funny.

Her eyes crinkled as she asked, "You think I failed out? Don't you?"

"Well… I… uh…"

Morgana coughed and tried to suppress her grin, but she couldn't, and it blossomed into a full-blown smile that warmed her eyes for the first time that night, sending an electric shock right through him. "Carth, I didn't fail out. I'm a graduate student. I already have my undergraduate degree. I think you must be the first person who's ever thought that."

"Then why were you so embarrassed?"

She hesitated as a rather sheepish look crossed her face. "Some people get put off by it. They treat me like I'm weird or something, because…" She didn't finish.

"Because you're smart." Carth suspected that she had to be more than smart to get into the University at fifteen, and be almost finished with the graduate program by the age of twenty. Hell, she probably graduated at the top of her class with honors. He realized that she must have had some bad experiences for her to be so embarrassed about something she should be proud of. Carth wondered what kind of jerk would be insecure about that. "If that puts them off, it's their loss."

She looked genuinely astonished, and their eyes met for a second across the table before she looked down. "That's nice of you to say," she said softly.

He meant it, and he wanted to say more, but Carth could see that his compliment had her retreating back into her shell, so he changed the subject quickly. "I wonder where our waiter went?"

It worked. Morgana looked around, searching for their missing waiter. "I don't know. He's been gone an awfully long time." She shot him a worried look. "I'm afraid this is some kind of petty revenge against you."

"I have to say, I really hate this restaurant. I'm sorry about this."

Her face softened as she tried to reassure him. "It's not your fault. You didn't know it was going to be like this. It's a nice gesture. Really."

"Still, this wasn't what I had in mind. I have to admit that I hadn't planned on taking you here. My commanding officer was trying to do me a favor when he set up a reservation for me. I was thinking of something much more informal and a lot more, well, fun."

"It's okay. I've never really liked this place, anyway. It's pretentious and overpriced, and their food is very mediocre."

He had to chuckle as he asked, "Why didn't you say something?"

"You seemed so intent on coming here, and I didn't want to hurt your feelings."

Deciding that he'd had enough of this restaurant, he reached across the table, took her hand, and stood. Her small hand was dwarfed by his, but it seemed to have the effect of raising the temperature in the room as he held it. He smiled and said, "Come on, kitten. Let's get out of here."

Morgana nodded, looking vastly relieved. They quickly made their escape, ignoring the glare of their passive-aggressive waiter, who had finally appeared, and hurried out the door.

* * *

When they left the restaurant, they decided to head a couple of blocks over to Treasure Ship Row, the eclectic and exotic open-air market with vendors from across the galaxy. Carth had been there a couple of times before with Dustil and Jordo, but he had to admit that it wasn't nearly as fun as it was with someone who actually knew the place. And if that someone happened to be a pretty blonde whose hand he was currently holding, well, it didn't get any better than that. 

The colorful tents that lined the street flapped in the crisp autumn breeze as vendors from every imaginable species hawked the strange and exotic – always at the lowest possible price. They took their time walking through the cheerful confusion of the open-air market. Droids and sentients of every conceivable shape and size packed the aisles, some as vendors, some as customers, all speaking a myriad of different languages, which added to the dull roar of the market. Storefronts behind the tents were painted every imaginable color, and a few plain white buildings stood out starkly against the riot of bright hues. When Carth asked Morgana about them, she told him that they were painted in colors that were beyond the human eye's ability to see, catering to non-human sentients.

He listened to her talk, happy to see her relaxing since they'd left that awful restaurant. Eventually she led him to a tiny restaurant that was sandwiched between a tattoo parlor and a street vendor that sold seven-legged bugs that glowed. Whether they were supposed to be pets or delicacies, neither one of them could tell, but they had a good time speculating about it.

She led them inside the crowded and noisy restaurant, and he knew immediately that he was going to like it. A simply mouthwatering smell kicked him in the gut, making his stomach growl. The host led them to a tiny table in the back, and while he was disappointed that he had to let go of her hand in order to take a seat, the fact that it was so small, their legs were touching, made up for it. Even better, she had to lean close to him to be able to hear what he was saying over the cheerful clatter of silverware and the sound of boisterous conversation. The light floral scent of her hair enticed him to move even closer, but he figured he probably shouldn't do that unless he wanted to get slapped.

Since she was the local, he insisted that she order for him and she obliged, ordering their dinner from the serving girl in Corellian. They drank their beer as they waited, and he coaxed her into talking about herself more. She told him about Professor Obrin, who sounded like a real prick for making her teach his class, and her project schedule, which made Carth feel lazy.

Over their delicious dinner of roasted nerf steak and mounder potato rice, he explained how he had ended up taking her to the Emerald Room.

"My commanding officer made a reservation for us." Carth left out the part where nearly the entire base was entertained by the events of last evening, figuring that Morgana would probably be mortified. Right now she was smiling softly at him, elbow propped up on the table, chin cradled in the palm of her hand, and he didn't want to do anything to mess that up.

"Are you going to tell him we left early?"

"Uh… I don't know. I'll have to figure that out by tomorrow afternoon, actually." He broke into a grin. "I have a meeting with him tomorrow, about the XM-17 fighter. They want me to do the test flying."

Her eyes actually sparkled with excitement as her smile widened. "That's wonderful!"

"You should come and see the test flight," he said, seeing an opportunity to score more points with her. "I could ask Captain Karath to let you in."

"Oh, I'm going to be there. The University students get to observe the test flights."

Carth tried not to let his disappointment show. While he was happy that she was going, he wanted to be the reason that she was there.

It must have shown on his face, because she reached out and touched his hand to reassure him, adding, "But it was really sweet of you to ask." The simple gesture seemed to raise the temperature in the already-warm restaurant, but before he could stop her, she moved her hand back, breaking the contact. Her expression was unreadable, and he couldn't tell if she'd been affected as he had.

"You must be really good if they want you to fly it."

Gratified that she finally seemed impressed with his pilot status, he said, "I am." Breaking into a teasing smile, he continued, "Or maybe Captain Karath thinks I'm expendable."

"I doubt that," she said, smiling back. "Captain Karath is your commanding officer?"

Carth nodded. "He's the captain of the _Relentless_, the ship my squadron is assigned to. He's a good man – and the reason I'm still in the fleet. I owe him everything."

"Oh?"

Since she looked genuinely interested, he continued. "When I was at the Fleet Academy, I got into a fight with another cadet. He and his friends jumped me in an alley behind a bar as I was leaving to meet someone." A girl, actually, but Carth decided to leave that part of the story out.

She sat up, blue eyes wide and intent as she asked, "Why did he attack you?"

"Jasil and I had been rivals since we entered the Academy in the same class. I never figured out why Jasil hated me so much. I guess he figured that since we were about to graduate, it was his last chance."

Carth took a long pull of his beer to wash the bad taste that even thinking about the incident left in his mouth. "For two years I'd put up with his insults and pranks, because I didn't want to be kicked out of the Academy. Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to be a pilot, and I wasn't about to let some rich kid with a chip on his shoulder provoke me into doing something stupid."

Not exactly proud of his past behavior, Carth sighed. "He insulted me; I insulted him back. Then he sucker punched me. I'm afraid that I… uh… took the opportunity to kick his ass, and while at the time it felt really satisfying, in hindsight it wasn't the best judgment call."

"What did he say to you?"

Carth hesitated, because he didn't really want to say the words in front of her, "Uh… he called me the 'lowborn offspring of a dirt-sucking, backwoods whore.'" Her eyes widened and her lips parted. "I called him 'a cowardly son-of-a-bitch who hides behind his daddy's coattails.'"

Morgana nodded and waited for him to continue.

"During our fight, he pulled a knife, which he ended up grazing himself with." At her shocked face, he quickly reassured her, shaking his head at the ineptitude of his former rival. "He wasn't hurt badly, barely a scratch – but he cried like a little girl."

"What happened?"

"Some officers took him to the med clinic. I thought for sure I was going to be dishonorably discharged, or worse, court-martialed."

She frowned thoughtfully and asked, "Do they normally court-martial students for fighting? That seems rather harsh."

"Usually they don't, but Jasil was a Senator's son."

"Oh, no!"

"Yeah. Jasil lied and claimed that _I_ had attacked _him_. His father showed up at the Academy, demanding that I be kicked out or court-martialed. And I thought for sure that I was going to be. As far as I knew, only me, Jasil and his friends had seen what had actually happened, and they backed his story up."

Carth grimaced, remembering the cold panic that he'd been in, certain that his military career was over before it had even begun.

"Turns out that Captain Karath was the officer who'd taken Jasil to the med clinic, and he'd seen the whole thing. He came forward and told what actually happened. Both Jasil and I got off with a warning."

"Even though he attacked you, and lied about it?" He had to admit, at least to himself, that he was pleased that she was outraged on his behalf.

Carth shrugged. "He's the son of a Senator. That's how those things work."

She shook her head, clearly upset about the unfairness of the system. "What happened to Jasil?"

"He graduated, and last I heard, he was riding a desk on Coruscant as an aide to Commander Durvil." Carth still couldn't believe that Captain Karath had stuck up for him. "I was just a kid with no connections, and Captain Karath risked his neck to stick up for me. When he did that, he made an enemy of Senator Jasil. He never told me, but I'm sure that the Senator tried to bribe him, probably with a plum assignment."

"Sounds like Captain Karath _is_ a good man."

Admiration and gratitude rung in Carth's voice as he stated simply, "He's the best."

Carth realized that they were both finished with their meal and he cleared his throat wondering what his next move should be. Technically, she had only agreed to dinner since she was so busy and all, but he really didn't want their night to end so soon, so he asked, "So, um… what would you like to do, now?"

Morgana hesitated as she twisted a cloth napkin in her hand. It was obvious that she was trying to decide whether or not she wanted him to take her home, and Carth held his breath in painful anticipation as he tried to come up with something to say to convince her to stay with him.

When she gestured towards the door and said, "Well, there's always something to do on Treasure Ship Row," he couldn't stop himself from grinning foolishly.

"Sounds good," he said, as he racked his brain for something truly special that Morgana would enjoy. "Too bad there isn't somewhere we could take the speeder, and really test the changes that we made."

"Actually… there _is_ a place. It's about half an hour from here." She looked at him tentatively. "If you want, I can show you…"

Carth stood, tossed a handful of credits on the table, took her hand again, and gestured to the doorway. "Lead the way."

* * *

Thanks for the feedback, guys. It is greatly appreciated. Writing a straight out romance is much more difficult than I anticipated (I am never going to write another one after this story – this is just too hard), so if there are any suggestions or comments on how I can improve – please, please let me know. 

The original plan was to post chapters four and five together, but chapter five is still being worked on. It should be up in a couple of days...

Thanks again to xenzen and Lord Valentai for their absolutely invaluable feedback. This story would be impossible without their input. Also, credit goes to xenzen for coming up with the idea of the min min earring. I think it is going to be making an appearance in her own story soon, so I just want everyone to know that I stole the idea from her…

In deference to xenzen's amazing artistic skills, I've changed the dress uniforms from grey to the traditional black, red, and yellow from the game. She has a sketch posted on kotorfanfic's message boards (in the Onasi Order), if anyone wants to see how fabulous her version of the Republic dress uniforms are. Honestly, I didn't think it was possible to make the Republic uniforms from the game look good, but somehow she manages it.

Rose 7: You are absolutely right about the modern cursing; it really doesn't fit in with the Star Wars universe. But it is too much fun (I have a fifteen month old son who is learning how to talk, so I don't get to swear anymone at home), so it is probably going to stay, although I'll definitely tone it down a bit.

Kosiah: You're right about this story not having a very Star Wars feel to it. I haven't decided if I'm going to try to change that or how exactly I can fix that… but you make a valid point. If you have any suggestions, let me know.


	5. Hidden Depths Part Two

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 5 – Hidden Depths (Part Two)**_

Morgana drove them out of the capitol city of Coronet, and Carth, who had lived on the city planet of Coruscant for two years as a cadet at the Fleet Academy, was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful ocean coastline. With the lack of urban buildup, they were plunged into near darkness soon after they left the city, and only the occasional house, the headlights, and the starlight illuminated their drive. It reminded him of home, and as they drove he told her about the lakes and valleys of the colony on Telos, and life on a backwater world.

About a half hour outside the city, she pulled down what looked to be an old, abandoned drive. Dried autumn leaves rattled overhead as they drove under a canopy of kenalpa trees. Carth could see lights up ahead, and hear the blaring of loud music underscored by the hum of engines. They pulled over the crest of the hill, which overlooked a large, derelict industrial complex, and Carth could see hot rod speeders of all shapes and sizes lined up next to the enormous building. A large, makeshift racetrack, complete with a sloppy start and finish line painted on the permacrete, ran around the sprawling factory.

Carth shot a questioning look at Morgana as she pulled the speeder over to where a jumble of other hot rods were parked, hoods open. A crowd of people milled about at what looked to be an impromptu party. Music blared as people worked on engines, drank from kegs, and talked and laughed boisterously.

Heads turned as she powered down the speeder and climbed out of the vehicle. Carth tensed when a group of rowdy and burly young men swaggered up to them, and as casually as he could, he reached under the seat for his blaster belt, slinging it around his hips before stepping out of the speeder, just in case there was trouble. He didn't like going anywhere without them, but taking them to a posh restaurant like the Emerald Room seemed inappropriate, and he hadn't wanted to scare Morgana. The young men came closer, and he was glad he was armed. They didn't appear to be overtly hostile, but they didn't look all that welcoming, either.

The biggest and ugliest of the group towered over Morgana, dwarfing her, and Carth's shoulders tensed as he stood behind her protectively, left hand at the small of her back, right hand ready to draw, if necessary. Carth wondered how the hell someone like Morgana would know scurvy characters like these guys, who looked like they belonged to a gang.

Morgana didn't appear to be all that concerned, however, even though there was a large, ugly man three times her size frowning down at her. The big guy dismissed her with a glance and focused his attention on Carth. When he saw the Republic uniform, his expression went from wary to hostile.

"You lost, Republic? 'Cause this is a private party," Big Ugly said, crossing his massive, muscular arms over his barrel of a chest.

Carth kept his right hand as close to his blaster as he could without being obvious about it, and measured his odds. There were four guys with the big man, so a hand-to-hand brawl was out of the question. If trouble started, he would shoot first, grab Morgana, and beat a hasty retreat to the speeder.

_I hope she knows what she's doing._

"We're looking for Dox," Morgana said, completely oblivious to the danger she was in.

The burly man's gaze swept over Morgana's curvy figure, accentuated by the clingy black velvet, and Carth's hands clenched into fists; it was like a slug crawling across a nova lily, and he didn't like it at all.

The big man was all contempt as he sneered down at her, his golden earring glinting in the dirty makeshift lights. "Girly, what the hell would someone like you want with Dox?"

Carth was not about to let Big Ugly speak to her in that tone of voice. "Hey. Treat the lady with respect," he snapped.

A crowd was starting to gather to watch the interchange, but most just looked curious and not hostile, unlike the big man in front of them. Carth could tell that the large man was used to bullying people, and in another circumstance, Carth would have been sorely tempted to take him down a notch or two.

The big man took a step closer and lifted his chin. "Or what, _chumani_?" he asked with a sneer. "You and your badass lonesome self are going to do what?"

Carth didn't know what '_chumani'_ meant, but it must have been bad, because Morgana paled. What really worried him was the fact that Big Ugly seemed completely unconcerned by Carth's blaster pistols, which probably meant that the man was carrying his own weapons.

Morgana spoke before Carth could retort, which, considering the mounting hostility, was probably a good thing. "Look, we're not here to cause trouble. Just tell Dox that-"

"Ana! How are you?" The voice cut through the crowd, and people parted to let pass a reedy-looking red Twi'lek male wearing a worn grey jumpsuit covered in grease.

Morgana broke out into a grin. "Dox!"

Dox scooped Morgana up into a hug that was a bit too friendly and lasted a bit too long for Carth's tastes. From the way he was hugging her, Carth was surprised that the Twi'lek didn't wrap his head-tails around her as well. His jaw locked into a hard line as he struggled not to say something, knowing that he really didn't have the right to--at least, not yet. Although if he had his way, that was something that was going to change.

"I'm fine," Morgana said, pulling back and grinning.

"We haven't seen you in forever."

"I know. I've been kind of busy with school."

Dox snorted. "I bet you have. You work too hard for your own good. You look great, though. How's my sister?"

"Nabat's fine."

Morgana filled the Twi'lek in on the news about his sister. As Dox and Morgana talked, the crowd around them began to disperse, Dox's approval apparently enough to satisfy most of the motley crowd. Big Ugly didn't seem all that convinced, however, and was still glaring and scowling at them.

Dox must have noticed, because he waved the big man off. "It's okay, Crev. You can go glower somewhere else."

Crev clearly wasn't happy, curling his lip as he tried to stare down Carth. "But he's Republic."

The warmth in Dox's voice dropped a few degrees. "He's with Ana, which means he's welcome." With that, Dox turned his back on Crev, who, being effectively dismissed, had nothing to do but leave unless he wanted to look stupid.

Dox nodded at Carth. "You want to introduce me to your friend?" he asked Morgana.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Dox, this is Carth."

He looked at Carth, quite blatantly taking his measure. Carth must have passed scrutiny, because an approving smile spread across Dox's face. "A Republic officer, huh. How interesting. So you finally ditched that stuck-up git of a boyfriend. It's about damn time."

"Brell isn't stuck up, and I haven't… I mean we're not…" Morgana turned pink and flashed a look at Carth. At a loss as to what to say, she finally settled on, "It's complicated."

Carth's stomach clenched, hearing Morgana defend her boyfriend. He knew that she was seeing someone else, but he hadn't really thought about it until now, and he hadn't realized that the other guy had actual boyfriend status. Carth wondered what Brell would think of his lover going on a date with another man.

"Yeah, with guys like Brell, it always is," Dox muttered, eyes rolling, and Carth decided that he liked the Twi'lek.

"Please don't start. I get enough of this from your sister." At that, Carth decided that he liked Dox's sister as well.

Dox threw his hands up in amicable defeat. "Okay, okay. What brought you here, anyway?"

Morgana let out a small breath of relief when Dox changed the subject. "I made some modifications to Carth's speeder, and I was hoping we could use the track to test them out."

Dox rubbed his hands together and flashed a toothy smile. "Excellent! Let's see what you've got."

Morgana pushed the sleeves up on her clingy black dress, pulled her hair back into a sloppy knot, and opened the hood. Carth unhooked his blaster belt and pulled off his dress jacket, revealing the plain, short-sleeved black shirt underneath. As he tossed his dress jacket on the speeder seat, he caught Morgana staring at him out of the corner of his eye. For a few seconds, he nearly panicked, wondering what she found so offensive, but when he saw the flush cross her cheeks, he realized that she was staring at his biceps.

With a cocky smirk, he slung his blaster pistols back around his hips, doing his best to flex his muscles as he moved, and he was rewarded by the sight of Morgana's eyes widening as she bit her lip. Their eyes met, and her mouth opened as though she was going to deny that she'd been caught looking, but she didn't say anything. Her pink flush deepened into crimson, and she turned to the engine, fumbling for the tools. Carth didn't say anything, but he was so delighted that he couldn't stop smiling.

After that, he simply couldn't help it. Every time Carth got the chance, he teased her by flexing his muscles, and every time she flushed and stared, completely losing her composure. It was the cutest thing he had ever seen. Eventually, she managed to meet his eyes, and he flashed her a playful grin as he did it again, and while she turned pink, she shook her head and chuckled ruefully at herself. If Dox noticed, he didn't say a word; he just merrily continued working on the engine, chatting to Morgana and Carth as the three of them worked.

Word spread, and a steady stream of people, some of whom Morgana knew, stopped by to watch, offer tools and parts, and give advice. Carth helped for a while, then sat back, content to watch the action unfold, and happy to see Morgana having a great time.

After a while of helping the two of them work, Dox offered to go get Morgana and Carth something to drink. Since Dox was elbow deep in the engine, Carth offered to grab it for them. Dox told him that he had a case of beer in his speeder, a silver and green two-seater that was parked across the lot. Carth strolled through the milling crowd, grabbed three bottles, and headed back to his own speeder.

He was only a few meters behind them when Morgana leaned over the engine block and adjusted something with a tool. The short black velvet dress slid up a bit as she moved, exposing a nice curvy expanse of leg and showing off her delectable backside. Carth stopped dead in his tracks and nearly dropped the beer bottles as hot lust curled in his belly. He wasn't sure how long he stood there, gaping, until Dox's voice penetrated his admittedly lascivious thoughts.

"So, how long have you known this guy?" Dox asked, trying to sound casual, and failing abysmally.

"Since yesterday."

Carth stood there indecisively, torn between letting them continue their conversation in private, interrupting them, or eavesdropping. While he didn't like the idea of listening in on a conversation that he wasn't a part of, he really wanted to know what they were saying about him. Besides, he was really enjoying the view, and while he thought that listening in was slightly underhanded, he couldn't bring himself to interrupt just yet, especially when she was still leaning over the engine block.

"And you brought him here?" Dox asked as he picked up a sonic wrench from a pile of nearby tools.

"Obviously," Morgana remarked dryly. She straightened up, to Carth's disappointment, although the rest of her was still damned pretty.

Dox handed her the wrench and she bent back over the engine. Carth was sure he felt the temperature climb several degrees.

"I'm shocked that you came."

She sighed; her growing exasperation was evident in her voice. "I told you. I've been busy."

"Not so busy that you couldn't come out with a Republic officer."

Disappointingly, Morgana didn't say anything to that; she just continued working on the engine in stony silence.

Undaunted, Dox leaned his narrow frame against the side of the speeder, taking a greasy part Morgana handed him. "Come on, Ana. You know the reason that you stopped coming wasn't because of school. It was because of Brell."

"Do we have to talk about this?"

"Yes. When are you going to realize that you can do better?"

Carth couldn't see the expression on Morgana's face, but it must have been frosty because Dox backpedaled hastily. "Aw, don't get mad at me. It's just that you're like my little sister. I'm just looking out for you."

"Dox, I have four older brothers who _constantly_ look out for me. I really, really don't need another one, okay?"

_She has _four_ older brothers? No wonder she wanted to leave Talus so badly._

Dox watched her work with a worried frown. "Look, Ana, I know you were flattered that this big, smart grad student would pay attention to you, but the guy is an arrogant prick."

Her tone became quiet durasteel. "Brell is _not_ an arrogant prick."

"Yeah, he is." Morgana let out a frustrated breath when Dox continued. "That guy acts like his shit doesn't stink. Every time you brought him here, he treated us like we were a bunch of criminals."

In truth, Carth didn't blame Brell; he'd been wondering the same thing himself. So it was nice to hear Morgana say, "You have to admit that you do look rather… shady."

"Yeah, but he still treated me like I was a criminal even _after_ he found out I was an accountant." Dox inspected the greasy part in his hand. Apparently unsatisfied with it, he tossed it aside and fished another part out of the crate by his feet. "My point is that you can do better than him, and I have to say that Carth is a good start."

She straightened up and put a hand on her hip, oblivious to the fact that her hand was covered in grease. "What makes you think that he's any better than Brell? Carth could be an ax murderer for all you know."

Dox handed her the new part, and she turned back to the engine. "If Brell were here, he'd be pouting and jealous that you weren't spending all of your time and attention on him, instead of standing back and letting you have fun working. Besides, Carth picked you over Renie, which is another point in his favor."

Morgana jerked up and stared at Dox, embarrassment and dismay playing across her delicate features. "Oh, no, not you too! Nabat told you, didn't she?"

Carth decided that keeping the fact that Dustil had spread the story around the base to himself was a wise move.

"Yup. I think she finds the whole thing really funny." Dox's grin told Carth that the Twi'lek found it as funny as his sister. "She also told me what happened with the flowers he sent you. I can't believe that Renie actually threw them at her!"

"Nabat provoked her into doing it, and I wish she hadn't, because things are getting really… tense. I just don't want to have to move out, Dox. It was too hard to find a house that was affordable with an industrial-level garage attached in the first place."

Guilt seared through Carth. He'd never imagined that asking someone out or sending a girl flowers would lead to such chaos. If Morgana had to move out because of this, he was going to feel horribly guilty.

"She'll calm down eventually."

Morgana studied the tool in her hands and said quietly, "I don't think she will. I think Renie really liked him."

At that, guilt stabbed through Carth again. He really _would_ like to find a way to make it up to Renie, but he simply couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't be misinterpreted by both Renie _and_ Morgana.

Dox, however, remained skeptical. "Maybe. Although I suspect her anger has more to do with her hurt pride than anything else. She'll get over it. It'll just take some time."

"I hope you're right," she said, turning back to her work while Dox leaned over and helped her tighten up something that Carth couldn't see.

"Anyway, I just wanted to say that you shouldn't let Brell stop you from having fun while he's off planet," Dox said. "_He's_ the one who wanted to see other people, not you. You deserve better than that."

Carth couldn't agree more, figuring that Brell must be a complete moron for letting Morgana see other men.

They both straightened up, and Morgana handed the sonic wrench back to Dox more forcefully than was probably necessary. The Twi'lek winced when it connected with the palm of his hand with a meaty thwack.

"Is your lecture over?" It was not a question; the look on Morgana's face made it clear that she wasn't going to listen to Dox's unwanted advice any longer.

"Yeah, lecture over."

"Good." Morgana stepped back from the engine, dropped the hood of the speeder and wiped her hands on a grease rag that Dox handed her.

Carth took that as his cue and strolled up to them, handing each of them a beer. "Finished?" Carth asked.

"I'm never finished," Morgana admitted, "but I thought it might be a good time to test your speeder since there isn't anyone racing right now."

"Yeah, absolutely," Dox said. "Anytime you're ready. Do you want to race or just go for a test run?"

The competitive side of Carth sorely wanted to race right now, but the practical side knew that he should at least test out the changes she had made and get a feel for the track. So he reluctantly said, "Test first," as he put the unopened ale aside.

Morgana and Dox nodded in agreement.

"I'll make sure the track is cleared." Dox left them standing by the speeder, striding off into the crowd of people and cheerfully snapping out orders.

Carth stepped towards the passenger side of the speeder, frowning when Morgana made no move to join him in the vehicle.

"Aren't you coming?"

A sheepish expression crossed her face. "Oh, well… I really don't go on test runs."

"Even though you made all the adjustments?"

She clenched the beer in both hands as she answered. "It's easier to observe the performance of the speeder from here."

Why she would want to stay on the sidelines after she did all that work made absolutely no sense to him. He was getting the impression that it was a lot more than just scientific curiosity that kept her sidelined. "I'd thought you'd want to drive."

That impression was confirmed when the color washed out of her face as she shook her head vehemently. "Oh, no. I don't… I can't…"

"If you don't want to drive, I'll drive, but you have to come." He tried to reassure her because he really wanted her to come. "Look, I'm good at this kind of thing; I've been racing speeders and ships since I could see over the dash. We'll take it easy, and I won't let anything happen to you. I promise."

He could see her hesitating, and he could tell that he'd almost convinced her, so he made one last push. "It won't be nearly as much fun without you, kitten," he said with a smile.

She blinked at the word 'kitten,' and wrinkled her nose in a way that made him want to keep calling her that just to get that reaction from her. He wondered how much longer she was going to let him keep calling her that without saying anything.

But she didn't say anything, just nodded silently and joined him in the speeder. Carth pulled out onto the makeshift track, and waited for Dox to give him the thumbs-up. With the go ahead from the Twi'lek, Carth sped off from the start line.

Although he wanted to see how fast the speeder would accelerate, he didn't want to scare an already-nervous Morgana. He took the first lap of the makeshift track around the abandoned warehouse not quite slowly, but not nearly as fast as he could have, and studied the surroundings while he kept an eye on Morgana.

The track was just a permacrete strip that ran around the sprawling abandoned warehouse complex. The racers had hooked up a series of glow lamps, mounted on the roofs, which barely illuminated the track, and Carth navigated mostly by his headlights. People watched from the rooftop of the central building, which gave them a view all the way around the track.

Carth had left the top down and the crisp autumn air lashed at them as he drove. He kicked the speeder up a gear, itching to turn this engine loose.

A quick glance at Morgana told him almost nothing since her face was unreadable, but he did notice that she was clenching the seat and not looking at where he was driving. Instead, she was watching him, and Carth felt his face heat at her scrutiny.

After one lap of the course, he decided that he had a good enough feel for it that he could begin to push the vehicle to its limit.

"It's running great," he said. It was more than great; the high-performance engine was purring under his fingertips. "Let's speed up a bit."

As Carth floored it, the speeder shot forward, and the warehouse and lights became a dirty yellow and grey blur. He took the first corner at three-quarters speed, and the vehicle cornered perfectly. He must have taken Morgana by surprise, because she was clutching his shoulder, and he spared a look to see if she was alright.

She was staring ahead, wide-eyed and pale, but otherwise she looked okay, and Carth couldn't help but wonder if he could get her to come closer. With that in mind, he took the next corner at full speed, and the vehicle fishtailed, but was otherwise under control.

Morgana let out a frightened yelp, burying her face against him and clutching his shoulder in a death grip. When he felt her shaking, he realized that maybe he'd gone a bit too far. But he honestly didn't think it was that scary, since he had the speeder completely under control. Compared to what he was used to flying, driving this speeder was a cakewalk. But then again, Morgana was a civilian and not a pilot, so she might not see it that way.

Feeling very guilty, he slowed the speeder to a stop in the middle of the track. Morgana didn't even notice; she was still hiding her face against him and clutching his shoulder, quivering, and at that moment, Carth felt like the biggest jerk.

He shifted in his seat, wrapping his arm around her while he managed to get her to let go of his shirt with his other hand. But she was still shaking and clutching his hand, eyes squeezed shut.

"Morgana, are you alright?" he asked as he massaged her cold hands in his, guilt swamping him as he realized that he had her exactly where he'd wanted her. Her curvaceous, warm body was pressed up against his and he really wanted to keep her there--he just wished he hadn't terrified her.

She took several steadying breaths before her eyes fluttered open and she sat back a bit, to his disappointment. Her voice was a bit shaky as she spoke. "I'm fine. I just feel rather silly."

"Why?"

"I work on speeder and starfighter engines, to make them go faster, but I… I just don't have the stomach for racing. Ever since my brother took me for a joyride and nearly hit a tree, I haven't…" She trailed off as a flush crept across her cheeks. "You must think I'm the biggest idiot."

"No. I don't think you're an idiot. It's my fault. I shouldn't have badgered you into riding along. I'll… uh… I'll take us back to the stands, okay?"

Their eyes met, and she swallowed and nodded. Carth made no move to restart the speeder though, because he couldn't quite bring himself to let her go just yet.

Instead, he touched her cheek with his fingertips. "I'm really sorry, kitten. I didn't mean to scare you," he murmured.

_Although I have to admit this worked out pretty well._

Her nose wrinkled just as he hoped it would, and he couldn't help but smile. "Why do you call me that?" she asked, sounding a little exasperated.

_Because I want to pull you onto my lap and see if I can make you purr…_

Carth realized that where that thought was headed wasn't going to help him come up with an acceptable answer, so he shoved it aside and tried to come up with something acceptable to say. Since he couldn't tell her the fantasies playing out in his mind, he decided to distract her by asking, "Does it bother you?"

He was highly amused by her rather thoughtful expression. She chewed on her lip as she considered. "It should, but I guess it doesn't."

Silence fell between them, and they were both caught, eyes locked as he cupped her face in his hand and caressed her cheek with his thumb. Carth struggled to find something to say, but for the life of him, he couldn't think of anything.

_To hell with talking. Just kiss her, you idiot!_

Slowly, they drifted closer to one another and Carth swallowed the lump in his throat. He ran his thumb over her full, soft lips and bent down to kiss her.

They were almost kissing when he heard the sound of a speeder approaching. Bright headlights hit them as Morgana jerked back abruptly.

_Dammit!_

Carth looked over at the unwelcome interloper, and saw that it was a worried-looking Dox. "Everything alright here?" Dox asked anxiously.

Morgana recovered first, shielding her eyes with one of her hands and squinting at Dox. "Yeah, we're fine. Do you think you could turn off the lights?"

Dox dimmed the lights and hopped out of the green two-seater. "Engine trouble?"

"No, nothing like that. I just panicked."

To Carth's dismay, she stepped out of the speeder as she spoke to Dox. "Maybe you could take me back so that Carth could really take this for a test run."

Dox's eyes narrowed suspiciously at Carth, as though he was wondering whether Carth had taken advantage of his friend. Carth worried that he'd offended her, but Morgana flashed him a reassuring smile as she stepped into the two-seater.

Before Carth could protest, Dox pulled away, leaving him alone on the lonely dark track.

* * *

Morgana cursed Dox's timing as he sped away from Carth's speeder, utterly disappointed that Dox had inadvertently interrupted them, and entirely shocked by how badly she had wanted to kiss him. She was so distracted that she barely registered what Dox was saying as he took her back to the main area, nodding and giving him monosyllabic answers when it seemed as though it was required, although she wasn't really paying attention. 

"You should be more careful, Ana. He was going to take advantage of you. If I hadn't interrupted when I did-"

The complete gall of that statement cut through her woolgathering. She turned a frosty glare on Dox. "He wasn't taking advantage of me. Besides, _you_ were the one who insisted that I go out and have fun, about, oh, ten minutes ago!"

"Not _that _kind of fun! I know what he was doing out there. Getting a girl all worked up and scared so that she clutches at your arm and moves closer to you so that you can…" Dox fumbled for the right words, and Morgana could tell that he was trying to come up with some clean way to warn her about the nefarious plots of male thinking, as though she hadn't been warned, chastised, and lectured already by all four of her brothers, her father, and her mother. "Well, you know what I mean."

"How do you know that's what he was trying to do?"

"Because I'm a guy, and I've done it myself!" he said as he parked his speeder in the jumble of vehicles in front of the warehouse.

Morgana rolled her eyes and laughed. She wanted to be angry with Dox, but she just couldn't seem to manage it with him being all indignant on her behalf, even though it was completely exasperating. She honestly didn't believe that Carth had been plotting to take advantage of her, although there was a part of her that kind of hoped that he had. She had never been the kind of girl that had inspired devious plotting by handsome men, and she couldn't help but be a bit flattered that that might be the case now.

"Did it ever occur to you that I might have _wanted_ him to kiss me? That maybe getting taken advantage of by an attractive man isn't something that I would object to?"

Apparently it hadn't, by the completely dumbfounded and horrified look on Dox's face. Morgana took advantage of his speechlessness and hopped out of the vehicle, deciding that it was time to put an end to Dox's nosy, overprotective attitude.

Steel crept into Morgana's voice, her tone becoming quiet but implacable. "I appreciate your concern, but honestly, my love life is none of your business, and I'm not going to discuss it with you anymore."

She left him standing by the speeder, deciding to climb up the rickety ladders to the top of the warehouse to where she could see the entire track area, and watched with the rest of the spectators as Carth pushed the speeder to its limit.

Eventually, Dox joined her, sullen and near pouting, but thankfully their conversation was void of anymore overbearing lectures about how her virtue might be compromised by an enterprising, devious pilot.

_Now if I can just get my _brothers_ to leave me alone…_

As she watched, she considered what her family would think of her, dating a non-Corellian Republic pilot. It was easy enough to stand up to Dox, because he wasn't family. When it came to them, she'd found that avoiding the subject was the best tactic. Deciding that worrying about her family was completely foolish at this point, since they hadn't even finished their date yet, Morgana focused on the speeder's performance.

Murmurs of approval trickled through the crowd, and Morgana couldn't help but feel a swell of pride that the adjustments to his speeder had done so well. As she watched him maneuver effortlessly around the track, she realized that he really was an excellent driver, and that she had had been in no real danger. Still, it was a relief not to be in the speeder.

When Carth finished, he was immediately challenged to a race, to which he accepted confidently. Three victories and several hours later, they finally said goodnight to a still-pouting Dox, and headed back to Coronet.

The night had cooled off significantly, and with the top down on the speeder, it was getting rather chilly. When Carth realized that she was shivering because of the crisp night air, he draped his dress jacket over her shoulders. It was such a sweet gesture that she didn't point out the obvious: that he could put the top up and turn the heater on. Of course, it didn't hurt that his jacket smelled like him, or that his tight undershirt continued to show off his shoulders and muscles. Morgana found the scent of clean male incredibly attractive, and had to make a conscious effort to not bury her face in the scratchy material.

They talked about the racing and the performance of his speeder as they meandered back to the city under the starlit sky. As Carth pulled into her neighborhood, she realized that he'd been driving at a rather poky pace. "You didn't have to drive so slow."

He flashed a grin back at her that just about turned her into a puddle. She really was developing a debilitating weakness for his smile.

"That's okay. I'm enjoying the company."

She blinked, bit her lip and fell silent, not knowing what to say. Fortunately, Carth managed to fill the silence.

"How did you meet Dox?"

"I met him through Nabat almost, oh, five years ago. She took me to his house one day and showed me his speeder. One thing led to another, and I started coming to the races. It was really fun."

It had been more than fun, actually. As a shy fifteen-year-old girl attending the university where most of the students had been over the age of eighteen, it had been difficult for her to make friends. While she had excelled at her studies, she had been painfully lonely until she had met Nabat and Dox. With a twinge, she realized that Dox had been partially right; she had stopped coming because Brell didn't like going. She resolved to make more time, and try to come more often.

He pulled the speeder up in front of her house and turned to face her, draping his arm across the back of her seat. She decided that she didn't want to think about Brell right now, but it seemed that Carth had a different idea when he surprised her by asking, "So tell me about the competition."

"The competition?"

"Yeah. This other guy that you're seeing."

Confusion swept through her as she asked, "You want to know about Brell?"

Morgana really didn't know what to say to him, so she was relieved when he said, "Not really. All I want to know is whether or not he's going to stop you from coming out with me again."

"Oh."

Before she could think of anything to say, he continued. "Look, I had a great time tonight. More than great, actually, and um… I really want to do this again. I just want to know if this guy is going to, uh…"

"Brell's off planet for another couple of months, and he wanted to be able to see other people." For some reason, that didn't hurt nearly as much as it had yesterday, and she suspected that it had everything to do with Carth.

Carth touched her neck, his thumb rubbing across her racing pulse point as he said softly, "He's an idiot, then."

Morgana just looked into his honest brown eyes, completely incapable of forming a coherent sentence, because her brain, at the moment, was rather fogged by the undeniable pull of attraction that she was feeling towards this man. Somewhere in the back of her mind, Morgana knew that getting involved with Carth was a bad idea. But all of her project deadlines, school work, classes, and teaching responsibilities didn't seem to matter at the moment. All that seemed to matter was the incredibly endearing man sitting next to her, who was flushing and stumbling over his words.

"I… um… I had an amazing time."

"Me, too," she breathed.

Her name came out as a hoarse whisper. "Ana, I want to…ah… I mean…"

Not wanting to wait any longer for him to get around to kissing her, Morgana went against everything her common sense was telling her and shocked both of them. With the courage that she hadn't realized that she possessed, Morgana leaned forward, gently cradled his face in her hands, and kissed him. For one mortifying and terrifying second he was still, and she was afraid that she had put him off, but that thought evaporated when he gathered her up in his arms, pulled her onto his lap, and began to kiss her back.

The kisses were achingly slow and sweet, but quickly escalated into something that was far more urgent and demanding. White-hot desire blazed through her, and she was completely lost as the world beyond him ceased to exist. All that mattered was the feel of his hard body against her soft curves, his strong arms around her, and the feel of his thick hair under her fingertips.

It took them some time, but eventually they broke apart, speechless. He rested his forehead against hers as he tugged the sloppy knot at the nape of her neck loose, sending the blond strands cascading down her back over the jacket that was still draped over her shoulders. She indulged her earlier urge and ran a hand across his chest, now only covered by the tight black undershirt, and was delighted to discover that the muscle underneath her fingers was hard and firm.

Carth slid his fingers through her hair as she found the breath to speak. "_Oh_. _Oh, my_."

His warm chuckle washed over her as he smiled. "Yeah."

"I can't believe I just did that." She meant it, wondering where she had found the nerve, but very happy that she had.

He echoed her thoughts. "I can't either, but I'm glad you did. I was having a hell of a time trying to figure out a way to do that, kitten."

He leaned forward and began nibbling on her earlobe, his clean shaven cheek brushing against her neck, and Morgana barely heard what he said, even though he was murmuring right in her ear, since she was busy turning boneless. "You have to let me take you out again. After that, I'm not going to take no for an answer."

_This is such a bad idea. You don't have time for this kind of thing._

But he kissed and nipped and nuzzled her neck, chasing all of her reason away. "Okay," she breathed as she tipped her head back, exposing more of her neck to him.

Since he was taking complete advantage of the situation, it took him a minute to answer. "Good."

Carth's lips swept up her neck, across her jaw, and back to her lips. She wasn't sure how long she sat there on his lap, kissing him, but eventually he pulled back and sighed.

"You should go."

Morgana stiffened and looked away, wondering what she'd done wrong. "Oh, alright."

He cupped her chin and made her look at him. "Hey, it's not that I want you to go. It's that if I don't let you leave now, I won't."

She met his molten eyes, and realized that he'd meant what he said. There was a very large part of her that wanted to stay where she was and let the chips fall where they may, but she knew that she wasn't nearly ready for that.

Morgana nodded and moved off his lap; the break in contact was nearly painful as she slid across the seat. She held up a hand to keep him from exiting the speeder. "You'd better stay here. We should probably try to avoid Renie if possible."

He didn't look very happy about that, but he said, "Okay." Carth took her outstretched hand and massaged it as he spoke. "I'm on duty tomorrow afternoon, and we're scheduled to go on patrol for the next four days in the Outlier Systems. I'll call you when I get back."

"Alright."

"Goodnight, kitten," he said as his callused thumb traced tantalizing circles on the palm of her hand.

Since he was flying tomorrow, it seemed appropriate to use the traditional Corellian parting. "_Ol'val, min dul'skal, ahn guld domina,_" she murmured, as warmth radiated from her hand through the rest of her body.

"What does that mean?"

"Clear skies and good luck." Reluctantly, she shrugged the jacket off and climbed out of the speeder.

The look he gave her nearly had her climbing back into the vehicle and crawling onto his lap. "Thanks."

She was halfway to the house when she turned and went back, resting her hand on the speeder door. "Wait. I don't even know your last name."

"Onasi. And yours?"

"Drayson. Morgana Drayson."

He slid over to the passenger side and reached up to cup her cheek. "We're going to do this again, Morgana Drayson."

Morgana's throat went dry as she nodded dumbly.

They said goodnight again, but not before he pulled her down and stole a few more kisses out of her. When Morgana finally found the willpower to leave, she walked back up the sidewalk on shaky legs and fumbled with the door lock. She slipped inside the doorway, and turned to see him grinning at her; she waved as she shut the door. Once inside, she leaned against the door, closed her eyes, and sighed. As she walked up the stairway to her bedroom, Morgana was certain that her feet didn't touch the ground.

* * *

Thanks for the feedback, everyone! It's good to know whether or not this whole romance thing is actually working. I don't think I've ever done as much hand wringing over my writing as I have over the last two chapters of this story. If anyone has any comments or suggestions about how I can make this story better, or what parts of the story work or don't work, please let me know. 

Once again, a huge, enormous thank you to xenzen for the beta. Without her, you would all have to suffer through my comma dysfunction. Also, she was the one who came up with the idea of Carth flexing his muscles (I can't believe that I didn't think of that...).

Rose 7: Thanks for the catch. The first typo was deliberate and I went against the greater wisdom of my beta, and left it in because I liked the way it sounded (smacks self). But you are right about both of them, and they are fixed now.


	6. A Slight Miscalculation

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 6 – A Slight Miscalculation**_

Packing up her school datapads into her worn nerf leather satchel, Morgana nodded at Professor Hajar as she left the seminar room. Her advanced starfighter thermodynamics seminar was one of her favorite classes and she really liked her Mon Calamari professor, but she didn't feel up to being social today. In fact, she was hoping to avoid pretty much everyone and take refuge in her garage lab as soon as possible.

But she had one major hurdle to pass first; mainly, avoiding Nabat. Usually, after her bio-engineering botany class, Nabat walked with Morgana to the underground tram that took them from the main campus to the stop a few blocks from their house. Morgana hurried along and joined the throng of people in the hallway, hoping that Nabat wouldn't catch sight of her today.

She had nearly made it to the door when Nabat caught sight of her and called out her name. For a split second, Morgana considered ducking her head and pretending that she hadn't seen her friend, but that plan fell by the wayside when Nabat trotted up to her, looking rather annoyed.

_Blast!_

"Where are you going in such a hurry?" Nabat asked, shooting an annoyed look at Morgana while she shrugged her own book satchel over her shoulder.

Morgana couldn't meet Nabat's eyes, so instead she stared ahead into the sea of students moving to and from class and continued walking. "I have a lot of work to get done today. I just want to get home so I can get started."

"You couldn't wait a minute for me to catch up with you?" Nabat's irritation was obvious as she scowled at Morgana. "What's the matter with you? You've been nearly invisible for almost four days now."

A wave of chill air hit them as they reached the large sliding doors leading out into the main common area of the University, and both Morgana and Nabat quickly buttoned up their jackets. In less than a week, the weather had unexpectedly shifted from cool autumn to almost frigid winter, as though the temperature were reflecting Morgana's bad mood. Shivering, they picked up their pace as they followed the permacrete pathway which cut through the heart of the University, past the Corellian School of Starship Engineering and the Corellian Bio-Engineering Institute.

"I've just been busy. My project deadline is coming up soon and I have a lot of work to do." That was true, although that really wasn't the reason she'd been avoiding Nabat, or pretty much everybody else lately.

Nabat didn't buy her excuse. "Ana, you've always got some crazy deadline to meet, but you've never actually avoided me before. What's going on? Why are you acting so weird?"

Morgana didn't want to lie to Nabat, but she really didn't want to discuss her problems with her friend at the moment; the humiliation was too new and raw for that. So she ducked her head and let her long hair fall across her face as she continued walking in silence. Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Nabat to guess.

"He hasn't called you yet, has he?"

Morgana's reply was terse. "No."

"Oh, honey, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. It's not a big deal. Really. It's just that…" Her voice trailed off, not wanting to admit her thoughts out loud.

Nabat finished them for her. "You really liked him."

"I don't understand. He said he had an amazing time. I just…" She couldn't keep her embarrassment and frustration inside any longer, and her feelings came tumbling out. "How could he kiss me like that and not call?"

Nabat's tone signaled that she thought the answer was obvious. "He's a man. They're stupid like that. It doesn't necessarily mean anything." At Morgana's skeptical look, Nabat tried another tactic. "Are you sure that he's still not on duty? Maybe his squadron is still on patrol."

"No, it's not." Morgana answered Nabat's next question before she could ask it. "You know the pilot who's been hanging around Cait?" Nabat nodded and Morgana continued. "He's in Carth's squadron, and _he's_ been around for the last three days, which means that Carth's been back, but he hasn't called. It's been _eight days_, Nabat."

The fact that Nabat was looking at her sympathetically somehow made her feel worse.

"Have you thought about calling him?"

"I did. I left a message." Morgana's face began to heat as she remembered her fumbling attempt at sounding cool and casual, when she really was upset and hurt. "I'm pretty sure I was completely incoherent. I feel like such an idiot."

"Oh, Ana. You're not an idiot."

"Anyway, it doesn't matter." She gave Nabat a weak smile, and tried to make herself believe the words she spoke. "I need to focus on my project, anyway, and I really don't have time for this, so it's probably a good thing."

"Forget him. You're better off without him."

"Probably," she said, shoving aside the disappointment she wished she didn't feel.

They stopped when they reached the tram station. Morgana started to walk to their platform, but Nabat grabbed her elbow and steered her in the opposite direction.

Morgana looked over at her friend. "What are you doing?"

"Taking you somewhere fun. Somewhere where there is chocolate, or beer. Possibly both. I haven't decided yet." Morgana opened her mouth to voice an automatic protest, ready to tell Nabat that she really didn't have time for this, but Nabat cut her off. "And don't give me any crap about how you have lots of work to do. This will make you feel better."

Morgana considered the alternative, which was going home and working on her project, but she realized that doing that would only lead to brooding about Carth. She knew that she'd just obsess about their date and go over it again and again, picking it apart and wondering what she had done wrong. Since she'd already done that for the last several days, the thought of going home and doing it some more was just too incredibly pathetic.

She looked up at Nabat. "Beer and chocolate, huh?"

Nabat flashed a conspiratorial smile at her. "Yup."

"Okay."

Deciding that she was done wasting her time thinking about him, Morgana fell into step with Nabat, almost managing to convince herself that she didn't care.

* * *

The next morning, Carth returned to his apartment from an early morning briefing about the new XM-17 test fighter to find Jordo camped out on his couch and Dustil rifling through his kitchen. 

Dustil looked up from the refrigerator door. "Don't you have anything to eat in here?"

"Do you _see_ anything to eat in there?" Carth asked wryly, knowing that there was nothing in there except beer, a tin of caf grounds, and old take-out leftovers. His kitchen was as empty and sparse as the rest of his living quarters.

Dustil pulled out a box of moldy leftover Corellian noodles and pulled a face, grunting in annoyance. Carth had to laugh, because he knew for a fact that Dustil's kitchen was even emptier than his own.

"Why aren't you raiding Jordo's kitchen? _He's_ the one who actually has food."

Jordo flipped through the holovid programs idly on Carth's brand new and very expensive holovid player that was the only thing in the common area other than the black nerf leather couch. "Because I won't let him." Finding nothing of interest, he switched it off. "Are you ready to go?"

Jordo had scored some extra tickets to the swoop circuit semifinals, and some of the best racers in the Republic were going to be racing today. Carth had been looking forward to it for over a month.

"Yeah. Just give me a minute to call Morgana." He'd been meaning to call since he'd gotten back from patrol, but he'd been so busy with the extra duties from his assignment to fly the XM prototype fighter that he hadn't been able to find the time.

_Come on, admit it… it's more than that._

Carth ignored that nagging thought and pressed a button; the comm flickered to life. After a tense second, while Carth shoved aside his jittery nerves, the call patched through. A sleepy-looking red Twi'lek, whom Carth figured had to be Nabat, rubbed her eyes and mumbled a grouchy greeting.

Carth cleared his throat. "Um, hi. Is Morgana there?"

Yawning, she looped her head-tails over her shoulder. "No. She's teaching this morning." The drowsy expression vanished when a scowl crossed her pretty face. "Are you Carth?"

"Yeah."

Nabat just stared at him, clearly disgusted, and Carth wondered what the hell her problem was.

Carth glanced over at the chrono; if he got ahold of her by midday, they could make the race. "Do you know when she'll be back?"

Both her answer and attitude were less than helpful. "No."

_Damn._

"Where can I find her?"

"Why should I tell you that?" she asked, and Carth could have sworn that her lekku flattened against her skull. Nabat's hostile tone captured the attention of both Dustil and Jordo, who were now shamelessly watching the call.

His temper beginning to simmer at the Twi'lek's hostile attitude, Carth pressed forward, trying to keep his tone as civil as possible. "Look, I want to ask her if she wants to come to the swoop race this afternoon, but I can't do that unless you tell me where she is."

"Hey, we've seen your friend around so we know that your squadron has been back for at least four days, but you waited until the last minute to call. What do you expect her to do? Drop everything for a guy who's ignored her for almost a week-and-a-half?"

Carth could hear Dustil snickering behind him as he tried to do some damage control. "I haven't been ignoring her! I've been busy!"

"Really?" she challenged. "Too busy to take a few minutes to make a call?"

"I -"

She arched an eyebrow at him. "Or maybe your fingers were broken?"

Carth shifted uncomfortably, ignoring the little voice in the back of his mind telling him that Nabat had a point. "Wait, dammit! That's not fair!"

"You could have at least returned her message."

He shook his head slightly, confused. "What are you talking about? What message?"

"Oh, please. Like I'm going to buy that." She shrugged and continued ranting at him. "You know, she really liked you and I thought you might be good for her, but really you're just an inconsiderate ass!"

"Are you going to tell me where I can find her or not?" he asked, embarrassed and exasperated at this unforeseen turn of events.

"No!" she declared, and cut the transmission.

Carth just stared in shock at the comm, until Jordo shook his head and chuckled. "You're an idiot, Onasi. Waiting too long to call? That's an amateur's mistake. You're going to be lucky if this girl wants to talk to you again."

Carth's guts twisted at the idea that he'd inadvertently hurt Morgana's feelings, but he still felt compelled to defend himself. "You know I've been pulling extra duties with the prototype fighter."

"But _she_ doesn't know that," Jordo pointed out with infuriating reasonableness. "If you like her, why didn't you at least return her message?"

"I don't know what she was talking about! I didn't get any…" His voice trailed off as a horrible suspicion snuck through him, a suspicion that was confirmed by Dustil's attempt to look innocent.

"Dustil, did you use my comm again?"

"Um…"

Carth just stared at him until Dustil started to squirm.

"Okay, yes. Mine was disconnected, so I figured you wouldn't mind if I used yours." Dustil's comm was always being disconnected, as his friend was notoriously bad at remembering to pay the charge. "I might have hit the delete button by accident…"

"Dammit, Dustil!"

"I was going to tell you, I just forgot!" Realizing that counterattacking was the only way to survive, Dustil attacked. "I don't know what she's so pissed about. It was just one date. It's not like she owns you or anything."

Carth's temper spiked. "You might have blown this for me!"

But Jordo wouldn't let Carth off the hook so easily. "Dustil might be a bantha's ass, but _you're_ the one who blew it by not calling earlier." That Jordo was right didn't calm Carth's temper, but it did stop him from thrashing his best friend. "Anyway, the damage is done now. The only question is what you are going to do about it."

Carth glared at both of his friends for a second, letting his anger cool. Realizing that he could probably find her at the University, he raked his hand through his hair and headed for the door.

Dustil scowled. "Where are you going?"

"To see if I can find her."

"But you might miss the race if you go now! Just come to the race with us now, and smooth things out with her later," Dustil suggested.

But Carth didn't like the idea that Morgana was hurt and angry with him, and he knew if he went without setting things straight first, he wouldn't be able to enjoy the race.

"I'll catch up with you guys later."

It took him a while to find out where she was teaching her class, but a trip to the main campus office and a couple of smiles to the girl at the information desk scored him the room number. He paced outside the classroom door, wondering how much longer her class was going to take, until curiosity overcame him. He slunk into the back of the classroom as discreetly as he could, taking a seat in the back.

Nearby students whispered and stared at him; his black flight jumpsuit, with its red and gold trim, stood out against the more casual earth-toned tunics that most of the other students were wearing. Normally, he would have changed into his civvies, but he hadn't wanted to waste the time. Carth ignored their curious looks, glad that Morgana, who had her back turned to the auditorium as she gestured to a large holoscreen with a series of equations on it, hadn't noticed his intrusion.

Carth continued to ignore their suspicious glances, and eventually they turned their attention back to the lecture.

He wasn't quite sure what it was about her that just kicked him in the guts, but she was so incredibly sexy. It might have been the prim and tidy dress she was wearing, or that her hair was tied back in a neat twist that was just asking to be mussed up, but she reminded him of one of his grade school teachers, one whom he'd had a desperate crush on when he was a kid.

Knowing that the warm, attractive woman whose kisses scorched him was underneath the prim and cool exterior was an undeniable turn-on, and he cursed himself out for being stupid and not making the time to call her. He wasn't the only one admiring her; most of the students in the class were male, almost all of them looked older than her, and many of them were openly ogling their teacher.

Frowning, he realized how nervous she was up there. Her shoulders were tight and rigid, and she only looked up at the holoscreen, never making eye contact with her students. His temper spiked at the professor who'd forced her into doing something that she was obviously uncomfortable with.

After twenty more minutes of completely incomprehensible math, at least to mere mortals like himself, the class finally ended. Carth waited in the back and watched the students file out of the classroom. A few students, all male, wandered up to the podium, asking questions that Carth couldn't even begin to follow. While she answered their questions, he meandered down the auditorium steps to the front of the classroom and waited almost patiently on the side. After what seemed like forever, the students left.

Carth took a deep breath and walked up to the podium, where she was shoving datapads into her leather knapsack.

"Hi," he said. She looked up abruptly, eyes wide, clearly surprised that he was there.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, her shock quickly changing into a quiet aloofness that made Carth wince. Open hostility would have been better than this.

"Looking for you."

"Oh," was all she said, but it sounded strangely ominous. Carth tried not to squirm as he fumbled with what to say.

"Um… a friend of mine got some tickets to the swoop semifinals this afternoon, and I was wondering if you would…um…like to come."

Her reply was terse and dismissive. "I can't."

"What about dinner?"

With a cold look that made him feel like a complete bastard, she said, "No, I don't think so."

She stepped around him and headed towards the door, chin high, shoulders rigid, but he wasn't about to let her go without a fight. He caught her elbow when she tried to walk past him. "Ana, wait. I'm really sorry. I should have called before now."

A red flush crept across Morgana's cheeks, and for the first time he could see how hurt she was. "Why didn't you?" She shook her head and looked away. "Nevermind. It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does. I've been really busy with extra duties with the new prototype fighter. And I swear I didn't get your message. I didn't even find out about it until today." Her expression was dubious, and Carth knew that he was going to have to come up with something better than that, because she made an irritated sound and moved away. Carth panicked, knowing that if he didn't say something now, she was going to walk out of that door without him.

He didn't realize it was true until he blurted it out. "I was afraid."

She blinked at him in astonishment. "Afraid of what?"

He could feel himself turning crimson in embarrassment, but the words were out and there was no taking them back. So he swallowed the remains of his pride and stumbled ahead. "That you might not like me as much as I… ah… Look, I, uh… I've only known you for a short time and I, um…" He scrambled to find the words, taking her hand and massaging it as he spoke.

Carth realized that he had never felt this strongly about a girl before, and it was both terrifying and exhilarating. He hoped she wasn't going to make him explain himself more, because he wasn't sure if his pride could take it.

Dumbfounded, she nodded, and her expression softened. He stepped closer.

"I really, _really_ like you, Ana. I'm an idiot and a jerk. I deserve to be thrown into a pit of rabid gizka. Please, let me make it up to you. Come to the races with me, and let me take you to dinner."

"I can't. I have class this afternoon," she said, but he was encouraged to see that now she really did look regretful.

"Skip it."

She gaped at him. "_Skip class?_ I've _never_ skipped a class before!"

Morgana was so horrified at that suggestion that he had to chuckle. "_Never_?" he teased.

Her flush deepened in embarrassed indignation. "No!"

He grinned. "Everyone should skip class at least once. Come on, it'll be fun." Morgana still looked doubtful, but a gentle tug of her hand brought her so close that she was almost up against his body. Carth was delighted to see the remains of her cool reservation melt away. Everything went hot and hazy when he bent down and murmured the words next to her lips, "Don't you want to play hooky with me, kitten?"

"_Oh, yes_," she breathed.

Carth couldn't have stopped himself if he tried, he had to kiss her. His lips brushed lightly against hers, sending a shock through him. He nipped her bottom lip playfully, while her hands slid up his chest, but it wasn't nearly enough for either of them. Carth cupped the nape of her neck and pulled her into a demanding kiss. She wound her arms around his neck and kissed him back, and desire drenched him. Only the sound of an irritated cough broke them apart.

Mortification stained Morgana's cheeks when she saw the skinny, prissy professor scowling at them.

"Professor Obrin! I -"

"I see that I'm interrupting something important," the Professor sniped in a tone of voice that made Carth want to kick the guy's ass. "Come find me when you are ready to focus."

Morgana watched in dismay as her professor walked out of the classroom. She started to move away, but he held her firmly against him. Before she could protest, he took the offensive. "So you're coming with me, right?"

She sighed. "I can't. He's my professor for my afternoon class. I'll have to go now."

Carth considered his options and quickly came to a decision. "Okay. I'll wait for you and we'll do something after your class."

"You'll miss your race. Go, and we'll do something later."

He grinned, relieved that she wasn't angry with him anymore. For a minute, he was sorely tempted; part of him really wanted to go, but he also wanted to spend the day with her.

"I'll wait."

Morgana shook her head. "You don't have to -"

"I know, but I don't want to. What time will you be finished?"

"Mid-afternoon, but I have a break right now." She looked at him almost shyly. "We could go get something to eat, and I could meet my professor before class."

"Are you sure you don't want to go talk to your professor now?" From the look on her face, he'd half expected her to rush after her professor. "I can wait."

She gave him a sly smile. "If I go now, he'll lecture me for the next hour until class starts, but if I meet him ten minutes before class, he won't have time to do that."

He grinned down at her. "That's pretty sneaky."

She shrugged and laughed. "You do what you have to, to get by."

Reluctantly he released her, but not before he took her hand again. They walked out of the classroom together, dazed and grinning like fools.

* * *

Thanks for the feedback everyone, it is greatly appriciated. Once again, a huge thank you to xenzen for finding time in her busy schedule to beta my story. Without her, you all would have to suffer through my horrible comma dysfunction. 

I think this story has scared away all the men... lol.

Winterfox: You're right... this is pretty much a contemporary romance in Star Wars clothing, although I never intended it to be that way. In some ways I find it hilarious that I'm writing a flat out romance, since I'm really not a fan of 99 percent of professionally published romance novels. I tend to prefer my romance coupled with action/adventure/sci-fi etc. There aren't going to be any Jedi or lightsabers, although Carth is going to get to see a bit of action later on in the story. Even then, the action is going to be secondary to what's going on to the two of them. You're also right about girls being vicious creatures. I lived in an all-girls dormatory in college for four years, so that's where the inspiration for that scene came from...

Next up... Carth and Saul have a talk and Morgana gets an unexpected visitor...


	7. Reality Check

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 7 – Reality Check**_

Carth was checking his hair out just one more time in the small mirror attached to his locker when a deep chuckle pulled him out of his vain preening and into the present. He flushed and closed the locker door, and was mortified to see Captain Karath regarding him with an amused smile. The part of him that wasn't paralyzed by embarrassment marveled at Saul's ability to catch him at completely embarrassing moments. He seriously hoped that this wasn't going to become a trend.

"Since I doubt you'd spend so much time fixing your hair for me or the Seinar representatives, you must have a girl coming to watch the test flight."

He could feel the back of his neck warm as he flushed even more deeply. "Um… yes, sir. I do."

Saul smiled wryly. "That's what I figured."

They left the pilots' locker room and walked brusquely down the hallway that lead to the hangar bay and observation deck of the _Relentless_, Saul's ship.

"Is she one of ours, or a local girl?" Saul asked.

"She's an engineering student at the University."

Saul didn't bother hiding his amusement. "Is she one of the women who fought over you about a month ago?"

Carth's flush deepened. He'd hoped Saul had forgotten about that. "Um, yes, sir."

"Interesting. And you're still seeing her?"

"Yes," Carth answered, wondering where Saul was going with this. He was getting the distinct impression that Saul did not approve, but he wasn't sure why.

The last month had been amazingly fun, and he spent time with Morgana every chance he got. She still put in long hours, and he was gone on patrol a lot, but somehow they managed to see each other, although sometimes he had to coax her away from her engine by bribing her with dinner.

Saul stopped in the hallway and scrutinized Carth with his intense grey eyes. "This is probably none of my business, Carth, but I feel like I should say something." Surprisingly, Saul was the one who looked uncomfortable now, and it was clear he was choosing his words carefully.

Saul cleared his throat and straightened his already impeccable jacket. "You're a young and upcoming officer, and you have a great future ahead of you. I just don't want to see you taken advantage of."

Carth was completely confused now. "Taken advantage of, sir? I don't understand."

"You're good-looking, young, successful, and to a lot of women, you're their meal ticket. You need to be careful."

"Oh, sir. She's not like that."

"I'm not saying she is, son. But she's a local girl, and she's probably never even been out of this system. I'd hate to see her 'accidentally' get pregnant and you be forced into something you didn't want."

He couldn't help but be indignant. Although he knew that Captain Karath meant well, he didn't like what he was implying at all. "Sir, she's an engineer, not a cantina rat. I can't imagine that she'd-"

Saul cut him off. "I know you can't, because you're infatuated with her. You wouldn't be the first soldier who's been taken advantage of. It happens all the time, and you have too much potential to waste. I know you think she can't get pregnant, because of the standard chip all Fleet soldiers are given, but trust me, there are ways around that."

_Well, we'd have to be sleeping together first, sir…_

Carth decided he wasn't going to share his story of sexual frustration with his commanding officer. It wasn't that she was unwilling, or that he didn't want her. On the contrary, he wanted her more than anyone he'd ever wanted before, and that was the problem. Morgana was different, special, and he respected her. She wasn't a cantina rat out for just a good time. He knew he shouldn't rush something that needed to be done right, even though all of his hormones were screaming the contrary.

He was annoyed that his commanding officer thought he was that gullible, but he didn't want to offend the Captain, so he tried to keep the irritation out of his voice. "She wouldn't do that, sir."

"It happened to me, son, and I just don't want to see it happen to you." The truth and sadness in Saul's voice was impossible to deny.

Shocked, Carth blurted out, "You have a kid?"

He knew that Saul had been married and divorced a few years ago, just before Carth had joined his squadron, but as far as he knew, there were no children from that marriage.

Saul nodded, and Carth saw guilt and regret flash across his face. "My ex-wife took my daughter with her when she left. She asked me to stay out of her life, and so far, I've respected her wishes."

They reached the entrance of the observation deck, and although Carth wanted to know more, he didn't feel comfortable asking. Saul clearly didn't want to talk about it anymore, either. "Please, Carth, just think about what I've said, alright?"

Carth nodded.

"Good. Now, let's go meet the brass and suits."

After a brief meeting with Saul's superiors and the corporate executives from Republic Seinar Systems, Carth was dismissed while the techies did a last-minute systems check on the flyer. He stole a few minutes and went looking for Morgana.

He found her staring out the large viewing windows, admiring the sleek lines of the prototype flyer, and he knew that, while she was outwardly composed, she was desperate to get her hands on the fighter.

Carth chuckled as he snaked his arms around her waist, and heat flooded through him when she leaned back against his chest. "You're just itching to see that engine, aren't you?"

"Yes," she admitted sheepishly.

"Yeah, I figured you came today just to see the fighter and not me," he teased.

She turned in his arms and smiled. "I did come to see the fighter, but getting to see the handsome pilot who's flying it is a nice bonus."

He sighed in mock surrender. "I guess that'll have to do. You're going to stick around after the test flight, right?"

Her smile widened. "Of course."

"Good."

He wanted to kiss her, but not only was his commanding officer frowning at him thoughtfully from across the room, Jordo and Dustil were approaching with huge, troublemaking smiles on their faces. Carth almost managed to suppress a groan.

"Hey, Carth. Aren't you going to introduce us?" Jordo asked with an openly curious expression.

Morgana looked up at him expectantly, but Carth hesitated. He'd been putting this moment off for over a month, simply out of the desire to keep her all to himself. Besides, Dustil was a handful, and Jordo was really good with women, and Carth wanted to make damned sure Morgana was his before he introduced them.

But now it looked like he wasn't going to be able to avoid it. He let her go, but took her hand. "Morgana, this is Jordo and Dustil."

She smiled shyly while Jordo turned on the charm. "I can see why you've kept her all to yourself. Nice to finally meet you, Morgana."

Carth shot his friend a look that said: _hands off!_ Jordo merely grinned harder. Captain Karath signaled him from across the room, and he knew that it was time to get started.

"I have to go, kitten."

"Be careful."

With a start, he realized that she was worried for him, and a lump formed in his throat. Other than his family, no one had ever worried for him before, and he had to admit that it felt really good.

"I will."

She nodded, and despite his earlier reservations, he bent down and brushed her lips with his. Reluctantly, he let go of her hand.

Dustil grinned and clasped his shoulder. "Don't worry, Onasi. We'll take care of her while you're gone. Won't we, Jordo?"

"Yup."

Out of time, he had no choice but to abandon an overwhelmed-looking Morgana to his friends.

* * *

Dustil and Jordo steered a nervous Morgana over to the observation deck seating and sat down on either side of her. Intimidated by the presence of his friends, she started to retreat into her shell, but the pair of them wouldn't allow it. 

Jordo smiled disarmingly. "So _you're_ the girl who's been tying Onasi in knots. I was beginning to think you were a myth." Morgana didn't know what to say to that, although inwardly she was pleased. It was good to know that she was having the same effect on him as he was on her.

"I knew she was real. I see her all the time at her house," Dustil said. Morgana often passed Dustil in the hallway leaving her roommate's bedroom in the morning. "I'm sorry I haven't said anything. Cait, well…" His voice trailed off and he looked guilty.

"She'd be angry if she saw you talking to me. It's okay," she reassured him.

Even after an entire month, Renie was still furious with Morgana, and made sure that her friends also gave her the cold shoulder. While it was annoying, Morgana didn't mind too much. The last month had been fantastic, and she was willing to pay the price because Carth was worth it.

_Face it, Morgana, you're smitten._

She knew that she ought to be spending all of her time on her studies. Her project was due in a week-and-a-half, but she'd found it impossible to turn him down. Still, she was confident that her project was ready. Even with all of the last-minute tweaking she needed to do, she still found time to be with him, even if only for an hour or so. Nabat had said it was healthy, but there was still a big part of Morgana that felt guilty because she was only working ten to twelve hours a day, instead of putting in sixteen-hour days like she used to.

It helped that Carth was on patrol quite a bit, because when he was gone she managed to get a lot of work done. The situation with the Corellian pirates was heating up, as the pirates, angry because the Corellian government had capitulated to the Republic, had started hijacking and ransoming government ships and employees. Everyone knew that something bad was going to happen soon if the Republic Fleet failed to get them under control.

"You know, you're practically a legend around here," Dustil said. "Everyone knows about that fight between you and Renie."

She blinked. Carth hadn't mentioned anything about this. "They do?"

Jordo shot Dustil a dirty look. "He's exaggerating."

Dustil continued, oblivious to her growing dismay. "It was great. It took Carth _weeks_ to live it down."

"Oh, dear." She could feel herself turning crimson, and she wanted to slink into the nearest hole.

Jordo was fairly apologetic. "It's blown over now. And it's not like Carth's never been embarrassed before."

"Heh. That's true," Dustil chimed in. "There was this one time in grade school when…"

Dustil launched into a long, elaborate story about how Carth was obsessed with his grade school science teacher. By the end, Morgana was laughing so hard that her stomach ached.

"He used to bring Nova lilies from his mother's garden every day, except for that one time he brought her a glow frog." He shook his head, remembering. "Poor Carth. He was so crushed when he found out that she was engaged to someone. It took him at least a month to get over it."

"How old was he?" Morgana asked.

"Eight."

They all laughed.

Dustil squinted at her. "You know, you kinda look like her, actually."

Once again, Morgana didn't quite know what to say. After fumbling around for something, she came up with, "So you've known Carth for a long time, then?"

"Oh, yeah. We grew up on Telos together."

They watched as the test fighter went through the preflight checklist, and they could hear Carth preparing to take her out over the comm.

"We were neighbors, and his parents were friends with mine. We did everything together: went to school together, got in trouble together, and later joined the Fleet together." He jerked his thumb over at Jordo. "We met this joker in the Academy."

Carth launched the test fighter, and the talking died down somewhat as he vanished from eyesight. Attention shifted to the giant holovid, where Carth's flight path was being tracked. Carth wasn't going to take the ship far, just from Corellia, around Talus and Tralus, and back. Since it was the first test flight, Morgana knew they would want him to take it easy, no fancy maneuvers or anything. That would come much later.

She watched the data roll off the screen, the numbers and equations as well as status reports. She half listened to Dustil's stories as she scrutinized the data. For about ten minutes the numbers appeared to be fine, and everything was running smoothly, but then she started to see a pattern in the engine data.

Then images began to flash through her mind. She could see the grounding wires for the engine stabilizers working themselves loose, bit by bit, beginning to smoke and spark. The vision was so vivid that she could almost smell the stink of wiring that was beginning to overheat.

Shaken by the images, she took a deep breath to steady herself. While this wasn't the first time she'd had a vision like this, it happened very rarely, and when it happened she was never, ever wrong. "There's something wrong with the stabilizers," she said, cutting across Dustil's story about how he and Carth had stolen a pack of his mother's cigarras and smoked the whole thing.

Jordo scrutinized the holoscreen. "I don't see anything unusual."

Morgana knew that he wouldn't, unless he understood some of the raw data moving across the screen, and Morgana's concern doubled. She looked over to where the Seinar representatives were talking to a group of officers. Both Professors Obrin and Hajar were also there, and neither of them looked concerned.

She rose, and Jordo stood with her. "We have to let them know," she said.

Jordo looked uncertain. "If there were something wrong, wouldn't the designers know?"

"Maybe, maybe not." Morgana didn't want to waste time trying to explain what she saw to Dustil and Jordo. She just walked over to Professor Hajar and pointed out the data on the screen.

Professor Obrin blew her off. "Morgana, I'm sure that the designers know their engine better than you do." He began to apologize to the Seinar representative. "I'm sorry, she's an overzealous student and her boyfriend is flying the fighter-"

But the Seinar representative ignored him, instead concentrating on the data Morgana had pointed out. "She's right. There is something wrong with the rear stabilizers." He turned to an officer. "Captain Karath, tell your pilot to cut his engines, and we'll send a transport to go pick him up."

"But even with a blown stabilizer, he should be able to bring the ship back on its own," Captain Karath protested.

Morgana shook her head. She couldn't shake the picture in her mind. "It's not a faulty stabilizer. It's a faulty _connection_. They must have crossed the grounding wires. It's easy to do. If he keeps flying for much longer, he's risking an engine fire." It was a common mistake made in Corellian farm machinery. She had seen the same thing at her father's repair shop. Even though this was much more advanced machinery, the effect was the same.

Captain Karath looked at her dubiously, sizing Morgana up. "How can you possibly know that?"

Suddenly, Morgana realized that everyone in the room was waiting for her answer. Knowing that they would never believe her if she told them she saw it in her mind, Morgana ignored her self-consciousness and panic, and launched into a technical explanation that basically boiled down to the fact that she could tell that it wasn't connected correctly by the heat being generated.

"We'll have to see if you're correct. You'll have to come down when we inspect it," the Seinar engineer said.

Morgana could barely suppress her excitement at getting to see the fighter up close. When the transport towed the fighter back in, they all went down to inspect the ship. It took less than a minute-and-a-half to find the faulty stabilizer connector; the blackened cables and the acrid stink in the air lead them right to it.

The Seinar engineer was impressed. "Young lady, what's your name?"

"Morgana Drayson, sir."

"Well, Morgana, you probably saved our pilot from a serious injury and accident. We wouldn't have caught it if it hadn't been for you. You're going to come to the next test flight, right?"

She nodded.

"Good. Because there are some people I'd like you to meet…"

* * *

In the cocooned warmth of his speeder, Carth nuzzled the soft spot under Morgana's ear and said, "You were very impressive today, kitten." She breathed in his earthy, warm scent as she perched on his lap. 

They had just gotten back from celebrating his first test flight with his friends, and the street in front of the house was dark and deserted. It was late, and she knew she ought to go in, but she really didn't want to go up by herself. Spending the night without him was quickly becoming an unbearable option.

The darkness masked her flush, she hoped. She brushed his hair back and sighed. "I'm just glad that you weren't hurt."

"Me, too. And I owe it to you."

"Not really. I mean, they probably would have caught it."

"Maybe. Maybe not. All I know is that you stopped an accident from happening. It looks like I owe you one, kitten." He grinned. "I'm going to have to come up with some way to repay you."

Morgana could feel herself turning pink. "That's really not necessary, Carth."

Carth planted kisses along her jawline, and she could feel his smile against her skin. "Yeah, it is. So tell me, Ana, how can I repay you?" The way he said it made her feel all melty and hot, and impatient lust swamped her.

_You can take me upstairs._

Carth's eyes widened in surprise, but the look on his face turned her insides molten, and that was when she realized that she had actually said it out loud. She didn't get a chance to be embarrassed, though, because he kissed her so hard that he stole her breath away. He tasted like the ale they'd been drinking, smooth and dark.

When they broke apart, he rasped, "Are you sure you want to do this?"

Mortification crashed over her. "You don't want -"

"No! I do!" His forcefulness surprised her. "I want you more than anything, kitten." He cupped her face, and she could feel him trembling. "I just want to make sure… I don't want to push you."

"Carth, I… I mean, I'm not…" she began, not knowing quite how to say it, "innocent."

"It's not that… um… what I mean is that you're special to me, and I just… I just want to do this right."

She was speechless, because that had to be the sweetest thing she'd ever heard.

Her heart began to race as she murmured, "Come upstairs with me, Carth."

He swallowed and nodded, and they scrambled to get out of the speeder. He took her hand as they nearly ran up the walkway. They were barely inside the front door when he scooped her up and kissed her again. As he raced up the stairs, she kissed the underside of his jaw and heard his breathing turn ragged. Need and desire coiled tight in her belly, and only the fact that they were in the hallway kept her from trying to get his clothes off. He stopped at her door and she fumbled with the lock. It took her a couple of tries, but after what seemed like an eternity, the door slid open.

Because he was kissing her as he carried her, neither of them noticed that the light was on, nor the man sitting on her bed until he roared, "Get your hands off my girlfriend!"

The molten desire in Morgana's belly turned to a block of ice as she looked up and saw Brell turning bright red.

_Oh, blast!  
_

_

* * *

_

Once again, a big thanks to xenzen for betaing my fic and putting up with my comma dysfunction. Also, thanks noop-ni and armiena for letting me know that guys are actually reading this story, in the most manly way possible – lol.

For those who are interested in leaning more about Saul's daughter... this fic sparked a small plot gizka that resulted in a short one-shot story that can be seen over on the kotorfanmedia website, under the dueling circle challange responses.


	8. Tug of War Part One

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 8 – Tug of War (Part One)**_

"Get your hands off my girlfriend!"

The furious bellow pulled Carth out of the hot haze of desire and back into cold, harsh reality. Carth broke off the kiss and looked up, to see a red-faced, scowling Brell standing in the middle of Morgana's bedroom, inconveniently right in front of the bed they had just been planning to use. He was shocked, not only to find Morgana's absentee boyfriend glowering at them, but also because Brell didn't look anything like the slight bookworm Carth had imagined him to be. Instead, Brell was tall, athletic, and rugged-looking; he would have been right at home with the cocky pilots of Carth's squadron. Worse, Carth realized in a moment of cold, brutal honesty, that Brell was actually better looking than him.

He hated Brell immediately.

Carth pulled Morgana tighter against his chest and looked down into her wide-eyed, shocked and ghost-white face. After a few stunned seconds, she spoke. "It might be a good idea if you put me down."

But Carth didn't want to put her down. All of his instincts – the ones that weren't screaming at him to beat the hell out of this punk– told him to carry Morgana down the stairs and back to his speeder, so that they could go to his apartment and finish what they'd started before she could change her mind.

"Please, Carth," she said softly, but there was durasteel underneath her quiet words.

Reluctantly, he put her down. He consoled himself with the idea that since his hands were now free, he could kick Brell's ass at will.

Brell's handsome face twisted as he stared at both Carth and Morgana. "I can't believe it. Renie was right!" The next thing Brell said sent a nasty shock through Carth. "Why didn't you tell me, Ana?"

"You didn't tell him about me?" Carth blurted out, hurt that she hadn't even bothered to tell her boyfriend.

Morgana stood between Carth and Brell looking like a gizka caught in the headlights as she explained herself to both of them. "I… I didn't know what to say, or how to say it. And I could never reach you because you were never home. It just didn't seem like something that ought to be left on a message."

That mollified Carth somewhat. He glared at Brell, jerked his thumb towards the door, and said, "Well, you know now, so get lost."

"Hey! _I'm_ her boyfriend. _You_ leave!"

Carth smirked. "Not anymore you're not." But as he said it, he realized that he and Morgana had never actually discussed it. Brell hadn't been due back for another month or so, and they had both been having such a good time that Carth hadn't wanted to mess it up by talking about her quasi-boyfriend. Still, he was sure that Morgana wasn't going to go back to this arrogant asshole.

"Is that true, Ana?" Brell demanded.

Morgana wrung her hands, and it was clear that she didn't have any idea of what to say or do. "Well, I -"

"You're going to dump me for some hot-shot fighter jock who's just going to use you until he ships out?"

She shook her head. "It's not like that, Brell."

Carth turned crimson at the accusation. "I'm _not_ using her!"

"Yeah, right." Brell ignored Carth and turned back to Morgana. "Look, I know that I screwed up. When I found out from Renie that you were seeing someone else, I was furious, but then I realized I deserved it."

Brell stepped forward, took her hands and pulled her away from Carth. Carth's jaw locked in a hard line and his hands itched to jerk her back. "I'm sorry. I've been a jerk, and I was too stupid to realize it until I got that call from Renie. That's why I rushed back early, because I don't want to lose you."

Brell touched her cheek, and Carth's blood boiled at the familiar intimacy of that gesture. He tried not to think about where else Brell had touched her. "You know how much I love you."

Morgana's face softened, and Carth watched her resolve begin to crumble. Desperate to remind her what a bastard Brell had been, Carth's sneering voice slashed across Brell's pretty sentiment. "Yeah, you love her so much you were chasing tail off planet for the last four months."

It worked. Morgana blinked and stepped back from Brell; the murderous look on Brell's face was extremely satisfying. The Corellian clenched his fists and looked as eager for a fistfight as Carth felt.

"Stay out of this," Brell snarled through clenched teeth.

Carth stepped forward and placed his hands on Morgana's shoulders in an intentionally protective gesture. "I'm not going to let you walk in here and spout off this bantha crap to her. You were stupid, and it's too late. She's with me now."

"Hey, I'm not talking to you, _chumani_! I'm talking to her!" Brell turned back to Morgana. "Ana, just give me another chance. Please? It will be better this time, I swear."

Morgana hesitated, and Carth's guts churned.

"No! Kitten, you can't believe this clown. He treated you like dirt. Are you going to let this guy just walk back into your life after ignoring you for months and months?"

From the bits and pieces of gossip mined from a very willing Nabat, Carth knew that Morgana had rarely heard from Brell in his several-month absence. He'd also learned that when Morgana would try to call, Brell was almost never there, and when he was, he made excuses and rushed off. Morgana herself never said anything bad about Brell, and most of the time she defended him against Nabat's and Dox's offhand remarks. It drove him crazy the way she defended someone who treated her so shabbily.

"He was out tomcatting with who knows how many women, while you were here, waiting for him to come home."

Pain flickered across her face, and Carth felt guilty, but he reassured himself that he was doing the right thing for her in the long run by making her face the truth about Brell.

But once again, she defended Brell. "That's not fair, Carth. We both agreed that we could see other people."

"But I know you. You only agreed because you wanted to make him happy," Carth insisted stubbornly.

"That's because she _loves_ me," Brell spat back.

"Is that true?" Carth asked, terrified that she might say 'yes'.

Morgana looked from Brell to Carth and admitted, "I don't know anymore."

While that wasn't quite the 'no' he'd been hoping for, it was better than the 'yes' that he truly feared.

Brell took her answer badly. "How can you say that? Ana, we've been together for two years. You must still have some feelings for me." Brell looked truly wounded, and even Carth couldn't deny that, although Carth didn't feel sorry for him at all.

"I do. I just don't know what to do. I… I need some time to think about this."

Afraid that he was going to lose the best thing that he'd ever found, and hurt more than he wanted to admit, Carth completely lost his temper. "What is there to think about? He's an asshole!"

"Carth, it's not that simple-"

"Yes it is! Don't you care about me at all?"

"Of course I do!" She looked at both of them. "I care about both of you."

Carth desperately wanted to make an ultimatum, either him or Brell, but he wasn't sure he'd win, and he didn't want to take that chance.

"I just need some time to figure this out." She swallowed and stepped away from both of them. "I think it would be best if both of you left."

Both men shouted simultaneously, "No!"

"Yes," she said. Her voice was quiet but implacable.

"But, Ana,-" Brell began.

She held up her small hand to cut him off. "I need time. Please."

Carth swallowed his bitterness, and allowed Morgana to herd him and Brell to the door. After both men were out in the hallway, she gave them one last miserable and conflicted look, and closed the door before either one of them could say another word.

For a few seconds, they glared at each other in silence. Then Carth cracked his knuckles and said, "I think we should take this outside and settle it ourselves."

Brell immediately caught his meaning and nodded. "Oh yeah."

They walked down the hallway and found an extremely pleased-looking Renie at the top of the stairs. It didn't take long for her to start gloating.

"Carth! I see you've met Brell." She smirked, stepping in front of him, blocking the path.

Carth, angry with Renie for sticking her nose into something that was none of her business, didn't have the patience to be nice. "Get out of the way, Renie. Brell and I have some things to discuss…"

…_with our fists._

"Hey, there's no need to get testy with _me_. _I'm_ not the two-timing schutta."

"Don't call her that!" Carth snapped.

To Brell's credit, he was looking at Renie just as contemptuously as Carth. "Shut your mouth about her, and get out of our way."

"I was just trying to help," she protested, a faux innocent look plastered on her beautiful face.

Carth didn't believe that for a second, and he called her on it. "No, you weren't. You were just trying to hurt her, because you're still angry that I chose her over you."

Renie's furious glare raked over the two men, and her lip curled in contempt. "She's got the two of you wrapped so tightly around her manipulative little fingers that you can't see straight. But hey, if you two want to be led around by the short hairs, that's fine by me."

Carth shook his head as she flounced up the stairs and dismissed her as irrelevant, focusing all of his attention and energy on Brell. They stepped outside into the cold night. It was so chilly that they could see their breath hanging in the air.

"Where do you want to do this?" Carth asked.

"Wherever you want, _chumani_."

Ignoring the cold, Carth gave him a curt nod, pulled off his jacket, and unhooked his pistol holster. He tossed both to the ground. Brell did the same thing with his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves.

Carth rubbed his hands together as he sized up the Corellian. Brell was almost as tall as Carth, and in excellent condition, and Carth wondered how much experience the Corellian had with actual fighting. He decided that he'd better go easy on the guy, at least until he was sure that Brell could hold his own. While he wanted to teach Brell a lesson, he didn't want to injure him too badly since that wouldn't win him any points with Morgana. He was in the middle of trying to figure out how to achieve this when Dustil and Cait strolled up the sidewalk.

"What's going on here?" Dustil asked. Carth noticed Cait holding his friend's hand; Dustil must have just brought her back.

"This is Brell. He's Morgana's _ex-_boyfriend. I'm going to kick his ass."

"She's _my_ girlfriend. And she loves me. Within a week, you'll be history," Brell barked back.

"Okay." Dustil didn't stop the show; he just shrugged, grinned, draped his arm around Cait, and settled in. "Try not to kill him."

"You have to stop them!" Cait said, shooting worried looks at Brell and Carth.

"Why? What for?" Dustil asked, genuinely puzzled.

"Because they'll hurt each other!" she said, as though it were perfectly obvious.

Dustil's brows knit together. "That's the point!"

She made a disgusted sound and stomped into the house.

"Women," Dustil muttered. "They don't understand anything important."

Free from the intrusion of non-appreciative women, Brell and Carth circled each other warily on the front lawn. Carth was about to make his move when he heard another commotion in the doorway. People spilled out onto the lawn: a half-dressed Nabat and some blonde guy grinning from ear to ear, a worried Cait, an angry-looking Renie, a Zabrak, and another human girl he didn't recognize. Morgana appeared last, pushing her way through the growing crowd.

Morgana stood between them, horrified. "Stop this. Stop this _right now_."

"Aww… come on, Ana. Let them fight," Nabat wheedled. "I want to see Brell's ass get kicked."

"_No_. Stop this. Go _home_, both of you."

"Ana, step aside," Brell said, his eagerness showing on his ruggedly handsome face.

"If you two do this, I am never speaking to either one of you again."

The quiet, calm, and immovably stubborn way she spoke convinced Carth that she was completely serious. He winced, realizing that underneath her soft-spoken words, she was absolutely livid. Her quiet disapproval and disappointment settled like a wet blanket over everyone on the lawn.

Brell backed off, and Carth, disappointed that he wasn't going to administer the ass beating that he'd planned, snatched up his blaster belt and jacket off the ground, still glaring at Brell.

She crossed her arms under her breasts and frowned at them like they were unruly schoolboys. "Now, go home. Both of you."

Leaving her standing in the middle of the lawn furious with him was the last thing he wanted to do, but he knew that he wasn't going to accomplish anything tonight. Morgana didn't make the same mistake of leaving them alone together again. His anger at Brell and worry about Morgana curled in his guts as he walked over to his speeder under Morgana's disapproving eye, while Brell stalked off down the darkened street. As he sped away, he saw her shoulders slump in relief.

* * *

Morgana was having the worst week of her entire life.

Back when she'd been a confused and painfully shy teenager that boys wouldn't look twice at, she would have thought having two men fight over her was hopelessly romantic. Now that she was a confused and conflicted adult, the reality of the situation was anything but romantic. That they had almost come to blows over her horrified her. Not only was she still angry that they were both immature to think that a fistfight would somehow solve this situation, she also felt terribly guilty knowing that if it weren't for her indecision, they wouldn't have been so ready to fight each other on her front lawn. But since Morgana had no idea of what to do about the situation, she hid in her lab and focused on getting her project completed – or at least she tried to.

Brell constantly tracked her down whenever he got the chance. It was easy for him, since he lived right down the street and they were both in the engineering program; he often cornered her at school, pushing her and pressuring her constantly. On the other hand, Carth was on duty for most of the week, and between both of their busy schedules, she barely saw him, and when she did, they were almost always interrupted by Brell.

In the midst of all the drama, she desperately scrambled to put the finishing touches on her engine project. Even though it was nearly complete, there was a ton of cleanup and polishing that needed to be done. The engine that she had slaved over so much in the garage had to be moved to the university, and her report with all of her data had to be finished up. She had worked for almost two years on this project, pouring her heart and soul into it, and she wanted it to be absolutely perfect, but it was difficult to concentrate when her personal life kept getting in the way.

In addition, the announcement for the winner of the Vanush grant – the grant that Morgana had her heart set on – was coming up in only a few days, and while she knew that her work practically guaranteed her a spot, waiting for the announcement to be made was still stressful. Her theories and innovations spoke for themselves, and she knew that there wasn't anyone else who was as groundbreaking as she had been. Two years of toiling twelve to eighteen hours a day over her engine was about to pay off in a grant that would give her the freedom and money to fund her dream projects– if she could make it through the rest of the week without Carth and Brell messing everything up for her. Somehow, she managed to get the project completed by the end of the week.

Morgana simply didn't know what to do. Her time with Carth had shown her how dysfunctional her relationship with Brell had become, and she had been so certain that she was going to end everything with Brell when he returned. But she hadn't been prepared for all of the old feelings that had surfaced again, and she certainly hadn't expected, of all things, an earnest apology.

And now Brell was acting like the attentive boyfriend that she'd always wanted him to be – at the moment that was probably the most inconvenient time of her life. Suddenly he was sending her flowers, which filled her tiny bedroom, buying her obscenely expensive gifts that she tried to refuse, and pleading with her to abandon Carth, which she simply couldn't bring herself to do. But she couldn't bring herself to get rid of Brell either, because there was a part of her that still cared for him and wanted to believe that he had changed. Morgana knew that she had to do something soon, because her indecision was unfair to both men.

Carth finally managed to catch up with her alone when she was cleaning up her garage lab. Moving the engine to the university had created a huge mess that her tidy soul just couldn't stand to let sit for more than a day. The familiar smell of dust and grease soothed her frayed nerves, and she lost herself in the mindless busywork, happy to be distracted from her personal problems for a little while.

Morgana was so preoccupied by untangling and sorting the huge ball of wires on her workbench that she didn't even realize that Carth was there until he wrapped his arms around her. She took the large bouquet of red and yellow Jewba blossoms out of his hand as he leaned down and kissed the sensitive skin underneath her ear. Between the brush of his lips against her skin and the heat of his body pressing up against her, she just about turned into a blissful, molten puddle. Morgana dropped the flowers and clutched the bench to steady her wobbly knees.

"So I figure that we have some celebrating to do now that your project is finished," he purred into her ear. "I swapped duty rosters so that I have the next few days free. I thought that maybe you and I could take off and spend some time together, just the two of us. We could jump in the speeder and head down the coast..."

She turned around, and she realized that he must have just gotten off duty, because he was still wearing his flight jumpsuit. The hopeful look on his face made her guilt triple. It didn't help that she really, really wanted to go with him. "It sounds wonderful, Carth -"

"Great! Let's grab your stuff and we can leave."

He smiled so brilliantly that she almost gave in.

"I can't. I have classes and responsibilities, and the announcement for my grant will come in the next couple of days. Final exams are coming up soon, and…" She steeled herself to tell him what she knew was going to make him angry.

But he didn't give her the chance. "Okay, then we can just have dinner tonight."

"I can't. I'm already having dinner with Brell."

Carth stared at her like she'd just ripped his heart out, threw it on the ground and stomped on it. He let go of her and stepped backwards, and she watched his jaw tighten into a hard, unyielding line.

"You're mad at me, aren't you?" she asked, even though she already knew.

He didn't answer her question, but she could tell that he was desperately trying to control his temper.

"I've barely gotten to see you all week long, and now you're going _out_ with him? What does this mean, Ana? Does this mean you don't want to be with me anymore?"

"No!" Morgana reached out and touched Carth's arm, grateful when he didn't jerk away.

"Then why did you agree to go with him?" He almost succeeded in not yelling.

Morgana sighed and tried to explain. "He went to a lot of trouble to set up this special dinner, and it just seemed too cruel to turn him down. He's been trying really hard, and I feel like I owe him one more chance."

"Ana, you don't owe him anything. He's a jerk!"

"We were together for two years, and I loved him." He actually flinched at that, but she felt that it was important to be honest with him. "He wasn't the best boyfriend, but it wasn't all bad."

Morgana looked down at the floor, because she couldn't meet his eyes– his naked hurt was too painful to see. She tried to make him understand, but it was difficult because she felt so incredibly guilty. "I'm confused and I just need to figure this out. That's why I'm going with him tonight."

"I see," he bit out. "What about us? What do we do?"

"I don't know." She wrung her hands in distress. "I know I'm being selfish and asking a lot, Carth. I wouldn't blame you if you just walked out the door and never talked to me again." The very idea of made her sick to her stomach.

"I'm not going to do that, kitten." Her relief was so intense that she actually started to tremble. "I knew you had a boyfriend when we started going out, and I know you're mixed up because that bastard is playing on your guilt and tying you in knots, but I'm not going to give up on us."

She almost automatically defended Brell, but the words died on her lips as she realized that it would just inflame his temper even more. So she said instead, "Thank you for being understanding."

Carth's hands clenched and he let out an exasperated breath. "I'm not being understanding. I hate this. I hate that I have to share you with him, that I can't be with you the way I want to be." He moved closer, and the heat that always seemed to spark between them flared to life as he caressed her cheek. "I know you feel this, kitten. I feel it, too. Just promise me that you'll give us a chance."

Morgana didn't get the chance to answer because Carth kissed her fiercely and possessively, and she melted against him and kissed him back. In the part of her mind that wasn't completely consumed by heat, she realized that she'd missed him terribly this week. When they broke apart, the lack of contact was almost physically painful.

"Don't go tonight," he rasped.

She flushed because her frustrated desire screamed silently for her to say to hell with Brell, and ask Carth to take her upstairs so that they could finish what they'd started a week ago.

"I have to. I already promised," Morgana said softly, trying to convince herself that she had to go, that giving Brell one last chance was something she ought to do.

He groaned and stepped back. "I'd better go then." He didn't look like he wanted to leave. He looked like he wanted to push her up onto the workbench and have his way with her, and she almost let him, but her guilt and sense of obligation to Brell stopped her.

Silence stretched between them, and when she didn't say anything to stop him from leaving, he nodded slowly. She winced inwardly at the hurt and frustration in his voice. "I'll…uh… I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"All right."

He left her standing in the middle of her empty garage, even more torn up and confused than before.

* * *

Carth's restraint on his raging temper lasted only until he got into his speeder. Letting out a frustrated growl, he punched the dashboard so hard that he put a hole right through it. Sharp pain lanced through his hand, cooling his temper slightly.

_Great, Onasi. Real smooth._

Ignoring the blood trickling from his knuckles, he clutched the steering wheel with both hands to stop himself from marching back into her garage, throwing her over his shoulder, and forcing her to come with him. While the plan to kidnap her, take her to bed and make love to her until neither one of them could remember their names was amazingly appealing at the moment, he knew that if he actually tried it, it would be about as successful as his backup plan, which was to find that punk of a boyfriend of hers and kick the shit out of him. But either of those things would simply earn her contempt.

_Dammit, dammit, dammit!_

Left with nothing else to do, he started the speeder and pulled away from the curb, just in time to see Brell stroll up to the house. The bastard had the nerve to give him a cocky smirk and a contemptuous salute before he headed behind the house to the garage. It took all of his self-control not to charge in there and put his backup plan into action.

When Carth got back to the base, the first thing he did was head straight to the officers' lounge, and order an entire bottle of Corellian brandy from the Zeltron bartender. As he stalked off to his apartment, all he could think about was Morgana going out with Brell tonight, and the more he obsessed about it, the angrier he got.

He couldn't stop the scenarios from playing out very vividly through his mind. Morgana laughing at Brell's jokes, Morgana holding Brell's hand, Morgana kissing Brell, Morgana going up to Brell's room and spending the night with the arrogant engineer.

The idea of Brell's hands all over Morgana, _his_ Morgana, was too much to take. Carth nearly choked on the bitter bile rising at the back of his throat, and white-hot anger blinded him. He felt like the biggest fool in the galaxy. Of _course_ she was going to sleep with him tonight, especially if everything went well. They had been dating for two years, and he knew that she was hardly virginal, so it would make perfect sense that the two of them would pick up where they had left off.

The thought of her in bed with Brell was too much for Carth to take. He stormed into his apartment and slammed the bottle on the kitchen counter, deciding that he was going to find out where Brell would take her tonight and stop her from sleeping with her boyfriend. _Ex_-boyfriend. If that lead to Brell getting his ass kicked– and he really, really hoped that it did– then so be it.

Pain shot up his arm; Carth's right hand, which he'd cut on the dash, was bleeding profusely. Realizing that if he was going to take Brell apart piece by piece, he was going to need his hand functional, he stalked into the 'fresher and grabbed the kolto kit out of the medicine cabinet. He was in the middle of patching up his hand when Jordo sauntered into his apartment, carrying a six pack of Corellian ale. As usual, Dustil wasn't far behind.

Carth cursed under his breath; he had forgotten that he'd given Jordo and Dustil permission to use his holovid player for the next few days, since he'd figured he'd be gone with Morgana. The last thing he wanted to do was to talk about his humiliation and failure with the two of them, but it looked like he wasn't going to have much of a choice, because Jordo was looking at his bloody hand curiously.

"Hey, I thought you were taking off with Morgana this weekend?" Jordo put the ale down on the counter, took a kolto patch out of the first aid kit, and handed it to Carth.

The coolness of the kolto against his hot skin did nothing to calm his raging temper, but the painkillers laced throughout the patch helped kill the ache in his hand.

"She's busy. She's going out to dinner with her asshole boyfriend," Carth ground out. For some reason, saying the words out loud made it even worse.

Jordo winced, and Carth knew it wasn't because of his bleeding knuckles. "Oh, ouch. That's rough."

Dustil's trouble-making grin spread across his face. "So you must have finally kicked that punk's ass. Why didn't you tell us? I wanted to watch!"

"No. I haven't kicked his ass," Carth admitted grudgingly.

_At least not yet._

"Well, let's go do it then!" Dustil jerked his head towards the door. "What the hell are we waiting for?"

Carth wiped the blood off his hand and stood, ready to finally indulge his desire to punch Brell's smug face in. "Nothing. Let's go."

Jordo rolled his eyes and sighed. "Okay, guys. I think we need to relax here."

Carth snapped, unable to rein his temper in any more, and decided that Jordo was as good a target as any.

"Relax? You want me to _relax_? _He's_ out there with her" -- he was so angry he had to stammer the word out -- "_touching_ her! I haven't even gotten to touch her like that yet, dammit!"

Jordo held his hands up in front of him. "Carth, she chose to go with him."

"But that's because that bastard is manipulating her!"

"Or it could be because she actually wants to go with him." Carth's expression darkened, but Jordo didn't back down. "Look, you're not going to do anything by interrupting her dinner and beating the hell out of her boyfriend except make her mad at you. You need to cool off and come up with a better plan."

Carth just glared at him, hating the fact that Jordo sounded so damned _reasonable_. He knew that Jordo was right, but it just made him feel even more frustrated than ever.

Jordo clapped his shoulder and led Carth to the door. "Come on. We need to work some of this frustration out of your system before you go and do something stupid."

"Wait a sec." Dustil grabbed the unopened bottle of brandy and the six-pack off the counter. "I think we're going to need this."


	9. Tug of War Part Two

A/N: This chapter was co-authored by xenzen.

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 9 – Tug of War (Part Two)**_

Morgana morosely shoved her mounder potato rice around her plate while Brell told her stories about his time off planet in the Corellian/Kuat engineering exchange program. She and Brell were sitting in a candle-lit corner booth of the Emerald Room, eating a very expensive dinner. With Brell's Corellian status pronounced loudly with his _min min_ earring, they didn't have any problems with the wait staff, who brought their bland and overpriced food promptly.

Brell's _min min_ earring, for the first time ever, also announced that he was in an exclusive relationship. Morgana knew she ought to be flattered because Brell was clearly making an effort to please her and make this night special. So she desperately tried to enjoy their dinner. With all of the candles, the stringed music, and the expensive wine, it _should_ have been romantic.

Instead, it was downright awful.

Normally, Morgana would have been delighted to hear about all of the interesting projects that Brell was working on. Since he specialized in drive systems on large Corellian cruisers, it was an area of knowledge that she didn't normally have exposure too, and she usually found it fascinating. But as she half listened to his stories, she couldn't help but wonder about how much of his life he had edited out for her benefit. Over the five months he'd been gone, she'd heard rumors through the gossip mill about several women. It should have hurt badly, but instead she was discovering that she simply didn't care anymore.

But what she _did_ care about was how hurt Carth had looked when he had stalked off. In fact, she couldn't stop thinking about Carth, period. About how much she'd missed him this week, about how special he made her feel, about how well he treated her, and about how much she simply wanted him. It was impossible not to notice the differences between Carth and Brell, and she was quickly realizing that she really didn't want to be here with Brell at all.

Brell paused and looked at her expectantly. Morgana looked up and realized that she had no idea what he had just said. She made a vague, non-committal sound to cover the fact that she hadn't been listening, but Brell was not fooled.

"You haven't heard a word I've said, have you?"

Morgana just looked at him sheepishly. "I'm sorry…"

"You're thinking about _him_, aren't you? Blast it, Ana! Tonight was supposed to be about us."

Morgana asked the question that had been nagging her since they'd arrived at the restaurant tonight. "Brell, why did you take me to the Emerald Room?"

"I thought you liked this place."

"I don't. I never have." Morgana shoved her plate away, giving up on the pretense of eating. "Do you think we could go somewhere else?"

Brell waved his hand and rolled his eyes. "Oh, Ana, stop being irrational."

She looked around at the elite of Corellian society, and couldn't help but feel completely out of place. "It makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Our dinner is half finished. Besides, it's important that we be seen here."

Morgana shook her head in frustration. Brell's social climbing ambition was one of the things that they'd disagreed about the most in the past, and she'd wanted absolutely no part of it. She'd hoped that his time on Kuat had changed his attitude.

"Zana and Mhir are out there schmoozing the grant board right now! They know how important respectable appearances are. You know that we need to be making the right impression now that we're getting close to graduation. It might be important in the future, especially when it comes to future job possibilities."

Morgana was extremely skeptical about that. "You think people are going to care about where we have dinner?"

"Of course they will! You know I'm trying to get a job teaching at the university. It's important that I'm seen as respectable. Going down to Treasure Ship Row or to those races that you like so much would be frowned upon by the people we need to impress."

"I can't believe that they would care about what I do with my own free time."

The patronizing look on Brell's face spoke volumes. "It matters, Ana. Talent can only take you so far, and then it comes down to who you know and whether they like you. I wish you'd listen to me. You should be spending just as much time making contacts and impressing people as you do on your engine. If you're not careful, you're going to be overlooked. In fact, you should be trying to impress Obrin more, especially with that grant coming up."

While Morgana was willing to be polite and put up with Professor Obrin, she would never actually schmooze the way Brell did. Not only did she find the idea distasteful, but she knew that she simply didn't have the social skills to pull it off. Teaching his classes and putting up with his mind-numbingly boring lectures about staying focused was bad enough – she couldn't actually imagine how awful it would be to actively socialize with him.

"My work speaks for itself."

"But you should be out there selling yourself, showing off your talent, making the right friends, and being with the right people." He frowned and looked directly at her. "And being with a pilot is not something that would gain you anything. But you and I… we're perfect for each other."

A horrible suspicion snuck through Morgana. "Is that why you're with me, Brell? Because I'm one of the right people? Are you with me because having an engineer girlfriend makes you look good?"

He looked genuinely hurt by her question. "No, Ana! I love you! You have to know that."

While he sounded sincere, Morgana was becoming more and more convinced that this wasn't the case. There had always been a part of her that wondered if Brell's interest had a lot more to do with the fact that she was an engineer, rather than actually liking her. When they had first started going out, people had commented on how the two engineering students were the perfect couple, and he had reveled in it.

"Would you still love me if I were a barmaid or an actress or an artist?"

Brell set down his utensils and slid up next to her, draping his arm across her shoulders. "You're being silly again. You know you mean everything to me."

"Is that because I'm an engineer, or because you like me?"

Exasperated, and missing the point entirely, Brell said, "You _are_ an engineer."

"But there's more to me than just that! Is that the only reason you like me?"

He cupped her chin in his hand and looked her in the eyes. It took her a second before she realized that the physical attraction she'd once felt for him had faded away.

Brell, however, did not pick up on this, and plowed ahead. "We're perfect for each other. You have to see that. We're both engineers, we're both brilliant, and we're both Corellian. And once we get married-"

Horrified, Morgana's eyes grew wide, and she flushed. "W-what?" she managed to get out, even though she was nearly dumbfounded.

"I want to marry you, Ana. I've wasted too much time as it is. Graduation is coming up in a few more months, and it would be the perfect time for the two of us to settle down, me with my job at the university, and you with the Vanush grant."

The way that he took her acquiescence completely for granted on something this life-altering rankled the hell out of her, but she had to admit that his attitude was partially her own fault – she had caved so many times in the past just to please him that it was hardly surprising that he took her feelings for granted.

_Well, not anymore._

"Brell, those aren't reasons to get married."

"Of course they are! I know you were sowing your wild oats with this pilot, and I forgive you for that. I was doing the same thing while I was gone, but now that we're back together, it's time to get serious. Marriage is the next logical step."

Morgana scooted back in her seat and out of his arms. "Brell, you don't love me. You think you're supposed to love me so you put up with me."

"That's not true!"

But Morgana knew exactly what she meant. For the first time in two years, she was seeing the situation with perfect clarity. It was strangely liberating, horrifying, and frightening all at the same time.

"And that's why you wanted to see other people on Kuat, because you were looking for something that you couldn't get from me. Think about it. Other than engineering, we don't even _like_ the same things." Nabat's words about how Morgana had settled for Brell because he was convenient and easy rang loudly in her mind. "Our parents, your friends, our professors… they all expect us to be together. I think we just followed along."

"So what are you saying? That you're not going to marry me?"

Morgana looked at him for a long moment, wondering how someone so brilliant could be so amazingly dense. She swallowed and gathered her nerves, preparing to spell it out for him, and even though she knew it was necessary, it didn't make it any less hard.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. It's over, Brell."

Brell's hazel eyes grew wide, and his jaw dropped in shock. "You're _dumping_ me?"

Morgana nodded, and a huge, invisible burden lifted from her shoulders.

He backpedaled, trying to do some damage control. "Okay. Maybe I'm taking it a bit too fast. I know I've made mistakes, but I can make it up to you."

"Brell…"

He grabbed her hands. "Please, just give me another chance!"

As gently as she could, she pulled her hands away. "I don't love you anymore, Brell. I want to be with him."

"How can you choose him over me? He's just an arrogant, ignorant pilot!" he hissed, struggling to keep his voice low even though he was furious. While she felt extremely guilty, the rational part of her mind was very happy this conversation was happening in a public place, since it prevented Brell from yelling and screaming.

"No, he's not. He's wonderful and thoughtful…"

…_and everything you're not._

While it was the truth she wanted to say, she held back because it just seemed too mean. Instead, she said, "I've been incredibly stupid."

"How can you be so _blind_? Think about what everyone will say! What will your family think?"

Dread filled Morgana, because she knew that her family would be livid about Carth.

_But that's a problem for another day._

She stood and put her napkin on the table, knowing that any further conversation with Brell would be pointless.

Brell's tone became downright nasty as he spat, "If you leave, that's it, Ana. Don't come crawling back after he dumps you when he ships out."

"I'm sorry," she said, and walked out of the restaurant.

She felt guilty, because she knew that she'd hurt him badly, but she also felt hugely relieved that she had finally figured this mess out. She boarded the nearby tram quickly, in case Brell decided to change his mind and stop her from leaving, and headed for the military base, hoping to find Carth.

* * *

Carth half-walked, half-stumbled through the door of the Singing Gamorrean, the fourth bar they had gone to that night, and the entire cantina fell silent as everyone in the bar turned and stared at the three young pilots in the entryway. This particular bar was almost completely devoid of non-human sentients, and Carth could tell that the patrons were overwhelmingly Corellian by their their _min min_ earrings and the unfriendly stares that they focused on their flight jumpsuits. A trio of burly men at the bar, wearing greasy and dingy tech uniforms, were clearly thinking about whether or not they should toss the three young Republic officers out on their backsides.

_Good. Come on, you bastards! Start something!_

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, Carth. Let's go somewhere else," Jordo said, frowning back at the men at the bar as he tried to steer Carth out the door.

But Carth didn't want to go somewhere else. The reason he'd insisted that they come to this particular bar was because he wanted a fight. The waitress at the last bar had warned them that the patrons of the Singing Gamorrean tended to be very anti-Republic, and Carth in his brandy-soaked judgment had decided that a fight was just what they needed, and he hoped that someone would be stupid enough to start something. He was desperate to take out his frustration and anger and aggression out on someone, because he was tired of doing the mature thing of holding it all inside.

Carth shook Jordo off. "No. I want to stay."

Jordo shook his head in exasperation, but he didn't say anything further.

Unfortunately, they must have looked like they weren't worth the bother to hassle, because other than several scathing looks, no one tried to cause any trouble with them. It was extremely disappointing. If they wanted trouble, they were just going to have to cause it themselves, and Carth simply didn't have the heart to pick a fight with some poor, unsuspecting person for no reason.

Jordo, Dustil and Carth made their way to a back corner of the cantina, next to the bar, and settled around a wobbly, grimy table that looked like it had been broken in half and patched together a couple of times. Dustil was at least as drunk as Carth, and he teetered a bit before finally managing to take a seat. Jordo, who had always been the responsible one of the threesome, and shamefully almost sober, sat between the two of them gingerly, his backside still sore from his brand-new tattoo.

Carth sat down and leaned back in the chair, figuring that it was a good thing that he was drunk, otherwise his back would still be tender from the trip the three of them had just made to a nearby tattoo parlor. Dustil had been nagging Jordo and Carth to get matching tattoos of their squadron insignia for years, and on account of their rather drunken state, something they had been reluctant to do before had now become a very good idea.

While they waited for one of the scantily clad human waitresses to serve them, Dustil decided to continue gifting Carth with his sage wisdom and romantic advice, which he had been spouting all night long. Considering that a month and a half was the longest Dustil had ever been with the same girl, Carth decided to ignore his friend's advice.

Dustil spoke in the slow, deliberate manner that only someone who was very drunk could manage. "So, as I was saying, you should forget about her."

"I don't _want_ to forget about her," Carth protested, knowing that forgetting about Morgana Drayson would be next to impossible now anyway.

"Onasi, you've got the kind of smile that makes women's panties melt. Hell, you could have any girl you want." Dustil waved his arm in the direction of the bar, where several women were smiling and looking at the pilots appreciatively. "Why the hell are you wasting your time on her?"

_Because she's special. Because she's smart, and interesting, and beautiful, and sexy. Because she worries about me when I fly. Because when we're apart, I can't wait to see her again. Because I've never felt this way about anyone before._

None of those were observations he was willing to share with Dustil. Instead, he just stared morosely at the wall, wishing the waitress would hurry up because he needed another drink badly. He was going to need more liquor if he was going to have to endure much more of Dustil's advice.

"She doesn't care about you. Hell, she's probably in bed with her asshole boyfriend right now-"

Carth's hands balled into fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Jordo glared at Dustil and snapped, "Damn, Dustil, will you give it a rest already?"

"I was just trying to help."

Jordo pointed out what should have been obvious to Dustil. "Well, you're not. So shut the hell up."

"All right. Fine. Whatever." Dustil crossed his arms sullenly and pouted.

"Don't listen to him, Carth. He's an idiot."

"Yeah, he is. But what if he's right?" The jealousy that Carth had been trying to drown in alcohol all night long swam to the surface.

Jordo tried to do some damage control. "I saw the way she looked at you. She cares about you a lot. I don't think she's the kind of girl who would just jump back into bed with that guy."

_Unless she's still in love with him…_

For the millionth time that night, the horrible fear that he was losing her swamped him. Afraid that Dustil might open his big mouth again, and deciding that he needed a distraction of the alcoholic variety, Carth stood, steadied himself on the table, and headed to the bar. People steered clear of him, moving away and glaring at him as he approached, but Carth managed to order drinks and got back to their table, when the trouble he'd been looking for all night found him.

The man stepped directly into his path so quickly that it was impossible for Carth's dulled reflexes to kick in fast enough to miss him. Cheap Corellian brandy sloshed all over the other man as Carth dropped the glasses onto the floor, where they shattered. Carth, momentarily forgetting that he wanted a fight, reflexively started to apologize.

It took him a second to realize that the man he'd bumped into was Brell. An angry flush crept under the Corellian's olive skin, and Carth's heart lifted, because Brell looked just as drunk and miserable as Carth felt, and if Brell was looking that miserable, then things couldn't have gone well with Morgana. Most importantly, if Brell was _here_, he wasn't in bed with her.

"You! I've been looking for you all night, you son-of-a-schutta! You poisoned her against me!"

That was the best thing Carth had heard all damn week. He couldn't stop the grin from spreading ear to ear.

The entire cantina fell silent. "Everything was fine, and then _you_ came along and stole her from me! But I'm not going to just stand by and let some offworld, hotshot fighter jock steal her from me!" Brell's voice rose, and Carth realized that everyone in the cantina was watching them now. Brell had an extremely sympathetic audience in a bar filled almost entirely with burly and rough-looking Corellians, and he began to whip up the crowd.

"You Republic bastards come here and tell us how to live, tell us how to run our government, and steal our women. Are we just going to stand by and take this?"

When a chorus of "Hell, no!" came from the growing crowd of men, Carth realized that he was going to get the fight that he'd been desperate for, except that it looked like it wasn't going to be just one on one with Brell. The way it was going, it was going to be the three of them against the entire bar. Carth was just drunk enough to be looking forward to it.

Jordo, once again, was the lone voice of reason. "Whoa, now. Our trouble is with you, not anyone else. If you and Carth want to kick the hell out of each other, then you should take it outside."

One of the burly Corellian techs came over, followed by a few of his friends. He crossed his large, beefy arms across his chest, and stood behind a smirking Brell. "Our trouble is with _all_ of you, _chumani_. We're tired of you Republics coming here and interfering with our business. And now you take our women. I think it's time to teach you flyboys a lesson."

Carth couldn't help it. He knew that he ought to be worried; it was the three of them against potentially the entire bar, and they were literally backed into a corner, but he smiled, because he was finally going to get the action he'd been itching for all damn week. He looked over at Dustil, who was cracking his knuckles and smiling menacingly. Jordo just looked resigned, because he knew Carth well enough to predict what was about to happen.

"Okay," was all Carth said before his fist hit Brell square in the jaw.

Pain spiked into Carth's hand, but the alcoholic haze and vicious satisfaction at seeing Brell knocked back with his lip split dulled it to a throbbing ache. As if his punch had started a human avalanche, the whole bar seemed to erupt into action as Brell staggered into the back of a large Corellian, who whirled around, knocking his drink onto someone's foot.

That was all he saw through his blurry perception, when Jordo pulled him back towards their corner table by the scruff of his collar, just as Carth tried to lurch forward to try to get to Brell through the bodies.

"Dammit, Carth, you idiot!" Jordo yelled into his ear, snapping out a kick at another Corellian who lunged at him. "You're going to get surrounded!"

"Leggo, Jordo!" Carth roared back, and wrenched himself out of Jordo's grasp, too angry and drunk to care.

Driven by anger to get at Brell whatever way he could, Carth pushed and shoved at bodies, hearing Jordo cursing behind him. Dustil had grabbed a chair by its back and was swinging it around, whooping as he hit Corellians right and left, the wood impacting flesh with loud meaty thuds.

The stale smoke and smell of sweat, of too many bodies in too small a space filled his nostrils as he panted, looking for Brell. Carth's boots crunched on broken glass, and his head throbbed in time to the beat of heavy music on the loudspeakers. He tried to fend off Corellians that kept barging into him, but fists and blows landed on his back and torso, and he was buffeted on all sides.

Frustration fueled his anger, and he hit back, not caring where his fists landed as long as he could shove through the crowd, looking for Brell.

Brell found him first, and a blow to the side of Carth's head staggered him, his vision spangling with stars. Carth had no time to recover as blow after blow hammered into him, and he couldn't see well enough to fight back.

Finally he gathered enough of his alcohol-sodden wits to drop into a defensive crouch, holding his arms in front of his face to block Brell's blows. Carth could feel blood dripping down his chin from a split lip, and aches all over his body, but so far the alcohol was numbing him to the pain.

It was also making him slow. When his vision finally cleared, more or less, Carth saw Brell's sneering face above him, and rage tinted his vision red as he lunged at the man.

And missed. Instead of grappling with Brell, Carth went past when Brell dodged and fell across a table, tilting it over and spilling him and what glasses and bottles were left on it to the floor. Glass shards cut into his hands as he fell to his hands and knees, and he slipped and slid in his frantic haste to get back up, his boots rolling on treacherous bottles and glasses.

_You stupid idiot, Onasi! You can't even take on some university pretty boy?_

A pair of rough hands grabbed his uniform by the shoulders and spun him around. The view revolved in Carth's sight more than it should, and his stomach lurched in protest. Brell's face filled his vision, and before Carth could get his arms up, Brell's fist smashed right into his face.

Carth bellowed as his nose broke, pain shooting like blaster bolts into his head, and he rocked back. Blood gushed from his nostrils down his chin and onto his uniform, and the metallic taste of it filled his mouth.

There was a split second before fireworks and static blocked his view of Brell, and he saw the shock on Brell's face. Carth swung wildly, flailing around in his desperation to get his eyes working again. He was panting harder now, and his broken nose made breathing difficult.

_Dammit, Onasi, you're so wasted you can't even hit anything!_

Before he could recover his sight, Brell grabbed him by the front of his flightsuit and heaved Carth forward. Carth's sight cleared just in time for him to see the surface of the scratched and scarred wooden bar hurtling towards his face.

Reflexive instinct made him throw out his arms, and the impact shuddered up his arms as his hands hit the edge of the bar, stopping him from hitting it face first, but both he and Brell had miscalculated.

Instead of smacking Carth's head down on the bar, Brell threw him forward too much, and Carth's momentum hurled him right over the side of the bar. Carth hit the floor on the other side belly first, and all the breath was knocked out of him.

If he'd been sober, Carth would've waited until he at least got his breath back, but he was drunk, so he grabbed up a fallen bottle and lunged back up and over the bar. And if he'd been sober, he wouldn't have hit his knee on the edge of the bar and tripped over it. He did manage to catch himself with his free hand, instead of pitching over onto the floor.

By luck, accident or design, Carth managed to swing the bottle directly onto Brell's head, breaking it and showering Pretty Boy with Sullustan gin. Teeth bared in a feral, triumphant grin, ignoring the pain as it stretched his split lip, Carth dropped the broken bottle and hopped off the bar.

Adrenaline and rage had cleared much of the brandy fog away from his head, and Carth advanced on a stunned Brell, blocking what he now realized were inexpert punches away with his arms. Brell looked shocked and scared as Carth slapped his fists away and began pummeling him in the gut instead of breaking his hands on Brell's skull. That first punch Carth threw had been a mistake, one his old instructor would've had him doing a hundred push-ups for; going for the skull guaranteed you broken knuckles, but the gut was a lot softer and a much bigger target.

Brell bent over, trying to protect his midsection, unable to catch his breath because Carth kept punching him in the solar plexus. Carth threw an uppercut that snapped Brell's head up, grabbed his shoulders and stepped right into Brell's space, bringing his knee up into Brell's crotch.

A mewl escaped Brell's bloody mouth, and he collapsed into a flaccid pile, holding himself and rolling on the glass-strewn floor.

_Let's see you try and touch Morgana now, Pretty Boy.

* * *

_

First off a big huge thank you to xenzen who wrote the entire bar fight at the end of this chapter, and for betaing these last two chapters for me. She's been graciously allowing me to suck up all of her free time, and I owe her greatly for that.

And again, thanks for the feedback everyone. Letting me know what you liked and what you didn't like, what worked and what didn't work is extremely helpful.


	10. Irresistible Forces

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 10 – Irresistible** **Forces**_

Bleary-eyed, Carth groaned as he slowly came to consciousness, and discovered that there was a throbbing, dull ache where his brain was supposed to be. Worse, it felt like someone had stuffed a wad of polyfab cotton down his throat.

"Here. Take this," a feminine voice ordered in a commanding but thankfully soft tone.

Carth rubbed his gummy eyes with the back of his hand and tried to focus on who was talking. Eventually, he realized that it was Julia, his squadron leader, who sat on the edge of the bed, holding out a glass of water and a pair of painkiller tablets. Strangely, she was in a robe and her hair was mussed up; it looked like she'd just gotten out of bed.

It took him a second to will his body into a sitting position. Carth swallowed the water and the tablets gratefully. "Julia?" he croaked when he found his voice again. Slowly, he registered that he was back in his apartment. "What happened? Why are you here?"

A wicked smile spread across her pretty face and her eyes swept across his body; Carth belatedly realized that he was completely naked, and only barely covered by a thin sheet. Carth was sure that he turned crimson when Julia arched an elegant eyebrow at him.

"Don't you remember last night, Onasi? You were _fantastic_."

Julia leaned forward and trailed a finger down his bare chest; Carth nearly dropped the glass of water as he tried to scrabble backwards to get away. Both his brain and his voice sputtered as he tried to remember what the hell had happened last night, while simultaneously dodging Julia's roaming hands. While his bleary mind struggled to input all of this information, Carth realized that his nose and hands were covered in bandages. He remembered going out and drinking with his friends, and he definitely remembered kicking Brell's ass and the barroom brawl, but what had happened after that was extremely fuzzy.

Carth sputtered, "We- You mean we-"

"Oh, yeah. All. Night. Long," she murmured in a voice that would have made most men sit up and beg.

But all he could think about was how he'd blown it with Morgana. Hot shame and despair lanced through him, because he knew that when Morgana found out about this, she would never, ever forgive him. There was also the fact that Julia was sleeping with Captain Karath, and Carth knew that if he found out, Saul could make his life a complete and utter hell. Having betrayed both the woman he cared about and a man he deeply respected, Carth figured his life was over.

And the worst part was, he had been so drunk that he didn't even remember the fun part of his colossal screwup.

_How could I be so fracking _stupid

Carth boggled at Julia as she inched closer to him, and Carth was left with nowhere else to retreat when his back hit the headboard.

"I have a bit of time before I go on duty. We could go for round two." She cocked her head to the side, giving the idea deep and careful consideration. "Or technically, round four…"

Carth's eyes grew wide as he choked out, "_Four_?" The Gamorrean pig-man part of his brain couldn't help but be a tiny bit proud. Julia was a beautiful woman, and Carth knew that, in other circumstances, he wouldn't be nearly as horrified as he was right now.

Julia's grin broadened as she advanced, and Carth began to panic. Putting his hands on her shoulders in an effort to keep her at bay, he fumbled to find a way to gracefully get his squadron leader out of his bedroom.

"Ah… Julia… I, uh…"

Masculine snickering floated in from the doorway, cutting through Carth's frantic panic; he turned to see both Jordo and Dustil standing in the doorway, grinning from ear to ear. Dustil was even holding a cheap holorecorder in his hand. When they saw that Carth had noticed them, they both doubled over in fits of laughter.

"Oh man, Onasi. You should have seen your face. It was priceless," Jordo pronounced.

Dustil held up the holorecorder. "He'll get to see it. I've got it recorded here for posterity."

"You bastards!" Carth raged, his panic and guilt forgotten in his fury at his friends' practical joke. He pointed at Julia. "You put her up to this, didn't you?"

Julia pinned him with a wry look. "It wasn't hard to convince me. I didn't appreciate getting a comm in the middle of the night from the Corellian Security Force, telling me to come and get my wayward pilots. And from what Jordo and Dustil told me, it sounds like _you_ were the one who started the trouble at that bar."

Carth's panic returned, because if CorSec had been involved, he and his friends were in very deep trouble.

"Luckily for the three of you, the bar owner and the other idiots at the bar weren't interested in pressing charges, otherwise Captain Karath would be extremely unhappy, and you all would be in some extremely deep shit. As it was, it took me over an hour to patch you three nitwits up." Julia shook her head. "I don't think I've ever seen you that drunk, Onasi. I worried about you for half the night."

Carth sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with one battered hand while Julia unwrapped the bandage from his nose. She thoroughly inspected his face and hands before sitting back with a tired sigh.

"Your split lip is pretty much mended. I picked the glass out of your hands, and the kolto patch for your nose should have reset the cartilage by now. You're just going to be sore for a while and pretty bruised-looking, but I've given you some serious painkillers, so you ought to be fine."

Finished with her poking and prodding, Julia gathered up the dirty bandages and stood. Carth touched his nose gingerly; it was sore, but it seemed like it was back in one piece.

He cleared his throat. "Uh… Julia… thanks for patching me up and for helping us out."

Julia waved a dismissive hand at him. "Not a problem. Bailing my idiot pilots out of trouble is part of the job. Just don't do it again, okay?" She turned and headed out the door. "I'm going to get you some more painkillers that should last you the rest of the day, so I'll be back in a few minutes. In the meantime, you might want to clean yourself up, because at the moment, you're pretty ripe."

Carth took an experimental sniff with his newly repaired nose, and discovered that she was right; he stank of typical bar smells: beer and sweat and smoke and blood.

Jordo and Dustil let her pass, although Dustil took the opportunity to check out her backside, the way he always did, as she left Carth's apartment. Both of them were dressed in their flight jumpsuits, and Carth remembered that they were both on duty today. However, he had the day off, since he'd swapped duty rosters, hoping to take Morgana away for the weekend.

Dustil scowled down at him. "You lucky bastard, at least you get to sleep your hangover off. We're on duty in an hour."

Jordo rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Like you didn't enjoy every second of the fight last night."

"Yeah." Dustil's troublemaking grin returned. "That was a lot of fun. I was pretty awesome."

Carth shifted nervously in the bed as it occurred to him for the first time that Morgana wouldn't be very happy if she found out that Carth had beaten her ex-boyfriend to a bloody pulp. He knew that she wouldn't understand why he had to do it, but hopefully she wouldn't find out. Carth doubted that she'd find out from Brell, who probably wouldn't want to share his humiliation with his girlfriend. _Ex_-girlfriend. Even if she did eventually find out, he was pretty confident that he'd be able to sweet-talk her into understanding.

As Carth managed to haul his tired and sore body out of bed, he was treated to Dustil's blow-by-blow account of his fighting prowess. Carth, wanting to clean himself up in peace and needing to come up with a plan for handling Morgana, interrupted his friends and tossed the two of them out of his apartment, promising to catch them later, where Dustil could brag to his heart's content.

He stumbled into the refresher and winced when he saw himself in the mirror. His face was a bruised mess, both of his eyes were blackened, and his lip, which had been split, was pink and tender. There were bruises on his chest and legs, and for some strange reason, his back was sore. Expecting to see a large bruise on the small of his back, Carth was shocked when he turned around and saw the black bird of prey insignia tattooed on his space-pale skin.

Carth groaned out loud and tried not to think about how disappointed his mother would be if she ever found out, or how much his father would tease him; he could practically hear the lecture word for word ringing in his tired, hungover brain. Thankfully, he'd somehow had the foresight to put it somewhere easily concealable, so hopefully he would never have to deal with that.

After a quick check to make sure there weren't anymore surprise injuries or tattoos on his body, Carth swallowed more painkillers and jumped into the sonic shower. He emerged fifteen minutes later, feeling a hundred times better. Pulling on a pair of shorts, he was about to shave the stubble off his face, when there was a knock at the 'fresher door.

The 'fresher door slid open to reveal an extremely worried-looking Julia. "What's wrong?" Carth asked, wondering if the other shoe was going to drop and Captain Karath was going to call him in for disciplining.

"Morgana's here."

"Now?" Elation that she had come to see him warred with panic. He desperately wanted to see her, especially since he thought that she and Brell might have had a falling-out, judging from Brell's angry words last night, but he'd been hoping he could put off seeing her until his bruises faded more and he wouldn't have to explain how he'd got them.

"She was standing in the doorway just a minute ago." Julia frowned, and she looked over her shoulder at the empty doorway. "I told her you were in the shower and would be out in a minute, but I think she got the wrong impression, because she seemed really upset when she saw me."

Carth looked at Julia who was still in her robe. _Oh frack._

"You'd better go after her, Carth," Julia said, but Carth had grabbed his bathrobe and was already running out the door.

* * *

Hot, sharp tears pricked Morgana's eyes and threatened to spill down her cheeks as she rushed out of the building into the dreary and chill autumn rain. But Morgana didn't even notice; she just moved blindly, not really looking where she was going, just wanting to get away before her mortification and hurt and anger overwhelmed her.

_Stupid. You're so _stupid_. You waited too long to make a decision and lost him._

Morgana knew that it was her own fault that Carth had gotten tired of waiting. When the beautiful brunette answered the door in a robe, what had happened had become obvious.

Despite her efforts to keep her composure, tears slid down her cheeks and bitter jealousy clawed through her. She knew she had no right to be jealous, but that didn't stop the feelings of hurt and betrayal.

Carth's voice cut through her misery. "Morgana, wait!"

Morgana really didn't want to talk to him, but short of flat-out running away, there really wasn't anything she could do. So she swiped her cheeks with the back of her hand and smoothed her features into blankness before she turned to face him. But when she turned and saw his face, her jaw dropped, because he was standing in the freezing rain wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and robe, looking like he'd just gone three rounds with a Gamorrean guardsman — and lost.

Her cool and calm façade collapsed under the weight of her concern. "Carth, what happened to you?"

Shivering, Carth wrapped his black bathrobe around his body and cleared his throat. A distinctly guilty expression crossed his face. "I, uh… I got into a bar fight last night."

Morgana's eyes widened. "A fight?"

For a second, Morgana wondered if Carth had found Brell and the two of them had finally fought, but she discarded that thought because she simply couldn't fathom the idea of Brell actually going to a bar, let alone a bar where a bar fight would erupt.

Carth shifted from foot to foot, and Morgana realized that his feet had to be freezing wet on the cold permacrete walkway. The small, petty part of her was glad.

"Ana, please come inside and let me explain."

The tone of her voice matched the freezing temperature. "I don't think so."

He tried appealing to her better nature. "Come on, kitten. It's freezing out here."

Morgana couldn't stop herself from saying, "Go back inside. I'm sure _she'll_ help warm you up." Strangely, he looked almost pleased by her jealous outburst.

Shocked by the vehemence of her own jealousy, she turned away and walked off before she embarrassed herself any further. Or at least she tried to, but Carth stepped around her and into her path.

"That's… it's not like that!" Morgana ignored him and tried to pass, but he grabbed her and forced her to look at him. "Dammit, woman, listen to me! She's my squadron leader, and she's the one who patched me up last night. She was just checking on me this morning, to make sure I was okay. I swear that's all it is. She's just a friend."

Morgana couldn't deny that it was a completely rational explanation. Besides, Carth looked so earnest that she had to believe him. Her mortification tripled, and she flushed bright red, wishing the walkway would just open up and swallow her whole.

"Oh."

When he took her hand, she could feel him shivering, and Morgana felt horribly petty and guilty for making him stand outside in the freezing drizzle.

"Please come inside."

Morgana bit her lip and nodded, and they walked brusquely back to the building. When the warm air hit them, Carth let out a sigh of relief. He didn't let go of her hand even when they were back in his apartment and sitting on his nerf leather couch, as though he were afraid that she would bolt and run again.

Unfortunately, his squadron leader, whom Carth introduced as Julia, was still there. As Carth rubbed warmth back into his feet with one hand, Julia did a final check of Carth's injuries while amicably chatting with the both of them, reassuring Morgana that the only reason she was in her bathrobe was because she'd come over from her apartment to check on Carth as soon as she'd gotten up. Morgana was so embarrassed that she could only manage one-word responses, and it was an intense relief when Julia finally left.

Morgana glanced over at Carth, who looked almost as relieved as she felt. "Carth, I'm sorry. I had no right-"

Carth cut across her apology. "No. You had every right. It looked really bad. Hell, I jumped to the same conclusion myself." He told her about the practical joke his friends pulled on him this morning, and Morgana felt like less of an idiot by the time he was finished.

"Besides" - he smirked - "you're pretty damn sexy when you're mad and jealous." For what felt like the hundredth time today, Morgana flushed crimson. "I didn't expect to see you here this morning. I thought you had class today."

"I tried to find you last night, but you weren't home. So I… I skipped it," she admitted. She'd been too anxious to wait until late afternoon to find him, so — for the first time ever — she'd ditched her morning class, hoping to catch him at home.

Delight lit up his battered face, and his lips twitched into a smirk. "You skipped class just for me? I'm honored." It surprised her, because he really did look touched.

Morgana couldn't seem to find the right words, and she wondered why she was so nervous about telling him this. "I wanted to tell you that, I mean… that Brell and I… that we're not together anymore."

Carth's smirk blossomed into a full-blown smile. "You aren't?"

"No," she said softly. "He asked me to marry him." Carth's smirk turned into a dark scowl, and his grip on her hand tightened. Morgana still couldn't quite believe that Brell had proposed to her, however ineptly; last night was one strange and surreal blur. "I told him that I wanted to be with you."

At that, his expression softened into something that made her insides twist in anticipation. He didn't say anything, he simply kissed her, finally releasing her hand so that he could wrap his arms around her. Morgana leaned into him, her hands sliding across the bare skin of his chest, and she nearly moaned into his mouth because she finally had the chance to touch him without his pesky shirt in the way. She tugged at his robe, desperately wanting the material out of the way so that she could see his glorious shoulders and chest. Still kissing her, he obliged her and shrugged it off, letting it pool onto the floor. When he let her back up for air, she gasped as he nipped her earlobe and pushed her back against the cushions.

Morgana decided that she'd better try to apologize again while she still had the presence of mind to do it. "I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have gone to dinner with him. I just felt so guilty."

He stopped nibbling on her and looked her straight in the eye. "Stop apologizing. You're here now, and that's all I care about." Carth's thumb caressed her jaw, making her skin tingle. "I have to admit that I was crazy jealous. I couldn't stop thinking about you and him and what the two of you might have been doing."

"We didn't-"

"I know." He chuckled at himself. "I had this plan. I was going to hunt you down and toss you over my shoulder, so I could carry you off to my bedroom and make you forget all about him."

"You should have done it." Morgana gingerly touched the side of his bruised nose and winced. "I think we both would have had a better night."

Carth looked at her like he wanted to tear her clothes off, and his voice was husky and low as his hand trailed down her jaw and neck. Although the words were playful, the intense look in his eyes seared right though her. "It's too bad you have class this afternoon, because I… um… I could… uh… put that plan into action right now."

Morgana's heart began to race as need blazed through her, and her throat was so dry that she could barely get the words out. "I could skip that class, too."

A teasing smile touched his lips. "You'd skip two classes in one day, just for me?"

They both knew what he was really asking. Morgana trembled and breathed, "Yes."

"Anything you say, kitten." Carth moved so fast that all Morgana caught was brief flash of his wolfish grin before he lifted her up, tossed her over his broad shoulder and carried her across the room.

Morgana yipped and laughed in surprise. "Carth!"

His echoing laughter rumbled through his body. "You asked for it, sister." He tore off her shoes as he walked, tossing them to the side with one hand while his other hand rested on her backside.

Morgana was so distracted by delirious anticipation and sharp nervousness at what they were about to do, that it took her a second to realize that she had an amazingly good view of his firm and tight backside, and the black bird of prey tattoo on the small of his back. Tentatively, she reached out and touched it, sliding her small hand along his warm skin; the sound that escaped his lips made her blood burn.

"I didn't know you had a tattoo."

"It's new. I was a bit… um… inebriated," he admitted in an embarrassed and sheepish mumble.

"I like it."

"You do?" She couldn't see his face, but he sounded pleased, and his walk practically became a strut as he carried her to the bedroom.

"Yes. It's very" — she searched for the right word — "attractive."

When they reached his bedroom, Carth slid her down his body and set her on his rumpled bed, and Morgana was mesmerized by how masculine and sexy he was. Want and need and desire tied themselves into one tangled knot in her belly, and she simply couldn't stop staring at him. Carth was solid and muscular, without an ounce of fat on his chiseled and toned body. His jaw, darkened by a night's growth of beard, should have made him look scruffy, but instead it made him look dangerous, and even with the faded bruises and healing cuts, he was utterly magnificent. It was nearly inconceivable to her that Carth was all hers.

Impatient, Carth growled her name and shoved her onto her back. He joined her on the bed, his large hands fumbling with the buttons on her shirt, and he cursed under his breath when it took longer than both of them wanted.

"Did you have to wear something so damn complicated?" he muttered, exasperated when one of the buttons caught on the thin fabric of her shirt, his voice hoarse from his urgent desire.

Morgana laughed and pushed his hands away, deftly unfastening the material and shrugging her shirt off. "I didn't realize buttons were too complicated for you."

White teeth flashed as he grinned at her. "You're the smart one. I'm just an unintelligent, arrogant, cocky pilot."

Chagrin stained her cheeks bright red once again. "I can't believe I said that to you."

"I can't either, but you were so sexy and beautiful that I wasn't about to let that stop me."

Morgana's throat went dry as she looked into his honest brown eyes. "You think I'm beautiful?"

Carth cupped her face in his hands and caressed her soft cheek with his thumb. "Ana, you are the most beautiful woman I've ever known."

When he said it like that, he really did make her feel beautiful, and a desperate ache filled her as Morgana reached for him. They melted together on the bed, and logic and reason and coherent thought, until all that was left was pure instinct and the desperate need for connection. For quite a while the world narrowed to just the two of them; no one else existed and nothing else mattered.

Eventually they were still, and a warm haze settled over them. Neither one of them moved or spoke, and Morgana just soaked in his presence in silence, in a state of happy disbelief, until her joy spilled over into a hiccup of happy laughter.

She shifted so that she could look down at Carth, who was frowning. "What's so damn funny?"

Morgana couldn't stop herself from grinning. "I just… I just can't believe that we're actually here. That I'm lying naked on top of a gorgeous pilot, in the middle of the day, _and_ skipping class." She shook her head in bewilderment. "This is the kind of thing that only happens to other people."

Realizing that she wasn't laughing at him, Carth grinned back at her. "It's going to happen to you a lot more, if I get my way." He began to nuzzle her neck. "You're going to stay for the rest of the day, aren't you? Because I have more _plans_."

The way he said it sent a tingle throughout her body, and any objection she might have had was completely and utterly forgotten. "What kind of plans?"

"The kind that involve you and me being naked… a lot."

"Oh." She brushed his forehead with her fingertips. "I think I can live with that."

"Good." Carth rose up and gave her a lazy kiss. "But somewhere in there, we have to make time to eat, because I'm starving."

"Do I get to wear clothes while I eat?"

"No," he teased. At her raised eyebrows, he relented a bit. "Okay, you can wear my robe, but that's all. I'm putting my foot down, woman, because you and I are just getting started."

Heat began to curl in her belly again, and she had to admit that going to bed with Brell, while fun, had never been as spectacular as this. With a chuckle, Carth rolled her onto her back; their lips met again, and soon the two of them were lost again in their own private bliss.

* * *

As usual I owe a big, huge thanks to xenzen for the beta. She also sketched Carth's tattoo, which I've linked to my profile page.

Thank you again for the feedback everyone. It is amazingly helpful to know what worked and didn't work for the readers of this story (the comments about Brell were especially useful).


	11. Stormy Weather

A/N: Once again, I apologize for the long delay. However, thanks to nanowrimo, I have four more chapters roughed out, and once I clean them up, I'll start posting the rest of them. For those of you who are wondering, this fic isn't finished, and there will probably be eleven or twelve more chapters to this story.

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 11 – Stormy Weather**_

It was the feel of Morgana's warm, soft skin sliding against his own that nudged Carth awake, but it took him several drowsy seconds to realize that she was getting out of bed. Spurred into action, Carth draped his arm around her curvaceous waist, pulled her back against his body, and decided that waking up with Morgana in his bed was far more enjoyable than waking up with a hangover and idiot friends in his bedroom. In fact, it was pretty damn fantastic.

Morgana chuckled. "I was trying not to wake you, but I have to go. Class starts in an hour."

"Trying to sneak out of here, were you?" Carth buried his face in her hair and nuzzled her neck; the soft sigh that fell from her lips made his blood burn. His strong hands slid over her body, while his own responded to her nearness. "Skip it, and stay with me this morning," he murmured.

Morgana groaned. "I can't. I'd love to stay, but I have to teach a class. Besides, they're going to announce the winner of my grant this afternoon."

Carth didn't let up on his assault; he just changed tactics and appealed to her practical side while nibbling on her ear. "Let me drive you to class. That'll give us more time to…" His voice dropped low as his hands wandered, and he told her exactly what he wanted to do.

He smirked when he saw the flush creep up her cheeks, and when she didn't protest further, he knew he'd won. For the next hour, he basked in his victory before dropping her off at the university. Over an hour later, he watched her rush to her class, grinning.

Life was very, very good.

* * *

For the second time ever, Morgana was late to class. She walked down the steps of the lecture hall amongst the knowing glances and smirks of her students, wishing that she were anywhere in the galaxy but in this classroom. Breathless and embarrassed, she piled her datapads on the podium as though she were building a wall between herself and her students, mentally cursing all handsome pilots and their unfair methods of persuasion. 

Thinking of Carth and the reason why she was late for this class turned her cheeks from bright pink to deep crimson, which in turn increased the speculative stares of her students. After several extremely long and drawn-out seconds where Morgana seriously contemplated running for the door, by some miracle she blurted out the first few words of her lecture.

Eventually, the familiar routine of crunching numbers soothed her enough for her stumble through the class, the way she always did. As she brought the lecture to its close two hours later, she swore silently to herself that once this term was over, she was never, ever going to teach another class, or allow herself to be so distracted by a man that she'd ever be late again. But then she knew she wouldn't have to, since today was the day she was going to get her grant, and after that, she wouldn't have to indulge lazy, pretentious and arrogant professors ever again.

Morgana stifled a reflexive sigh of relief when her students started filing out the door, but the usual unwinding of tension that happened when her lecture was over didn't come. The announcement was going to happen in just an hour, and she couldn't contain her excitement.

By the time she'd neatly stacked her datapads and packed them away carefully in her satchel, Nabat was rushing past the line of exiting students, practically twitching, a huge goofy grin plastered on her face. Frowning, Morgana wondered why her friend was here; usually they didn't meet until after her seminar class in the afternoon.

But before she could ask, Nabat strolled up, her dark eyes taking in every detail of Morgana's appearance, and although it was a struggle, Morgana managed not to fidget under her friend's open scrutiny. Instead, she opted to try for calm indifference.

"Ana," Nabat drawled in a casual tone that told Morgana she was in for an interrogation, "aren't those the same clothes you wore yesterday?"

Any attempt at a prim calmness shattered when Morgana flushed, feeling for all the world like she was seven and had just been caught tearing her father's speeder apart again, and stuttered, "I- Ah-"

Because of Carth's extremely effective methods of persuasion, she hadn't had the time to go home and get a different set of clothes the way she'd planned; she'd had to settle for sending them quickly through the 'fresher at his apartment. But at least they were clean. She'd assumed that no one would even notice, since most of the engineering students who were her peers usually had their heads buried in engines and equations. Nabat was a different story entirely.

Nabat let Morgana fumble for some kind of explanation for a few seconds before her smile grew even wider. "It wouldn't have anything to do with the reason you disappeared all day yesterday and didn't come home last night, would it? Possibly something to do with that pilot of yours?"

_Drat._

Morgana knew it was impossible to fool Nabat about this, but she really didn't want to reveal all the details of last night, even to her best friend. It was private and special and unbelievably wonderful, and she didn't want to share it with anyone other than Carth.

"Maybe," Morgana murmured, desperately trying to think of a way to put off the inevitable assault of questions. But Morgana rebelled anyway, even though she knew that Nabat wouldn't be satisfied until she at least threw her a bone.

Nabat rolled her eyes. "Maybe," she mimicked, before her control broke. "Come on, spill it. Did you finally sleep with him or not?"

Morgana lifted her chin and plastered the coolest and primmest look that she could muster on her face. Sadly, the effect was completely spoiled by her bright red cheeks. It didn't help that she could still feel his strong hands on her skin and the way he made her feel like the most special woman on Corellia.

Still, it was aggravating to be grilled, even by Nabat. Taking a firm grasp on her quickly retreating patience, Morgana answered as firmly as she could. "Nabat, that's none of your business."

Unsurprisingly, it didn't phase Nabat even slightly. "You finally slept with him, didn't you?" Nabat's question, which was more like a declaration, was so loud that Morgana could practically feel the heads of the lingering students still in the classroom snap to look at the two of them. Morgana simply gaped while her friend practically shouted, "It's about damn time!"

Horrified by Nabat's loud exuberance, Morgana tossed her book bag over her shoulder and headed for the hall, ignoring the open interest that her students didn't even bother to hide. Undaunted, Nabat dropped into step right next to her.

"Why don't you just say that a little louder? I don't think all my students heard you," Morgana hissed.

In typical Nabat fashion, she simply ignored Morgana's indignant frown, waving it off with one red hand. "Who cares what they think?" Nabat's knowing grin returned, setting Morgana's nerves, which were already frayed from the unexpected attention, on edge. "I was wondering when the two of you were going to finally get around to jumping each other. I thought the two of you were going to explode. I don't think I've ever seen two people that sexually frustrated before."

Morgana made a small choking sound. She had thought she'd concealed how badly she'd wanted him over the past weeks rather well…but apparently not. Nabat continued, smirking. "So… how was he?"

Face burning, Morgana picked up her pace in the futile hope that her friend would take the hint and leave her alone. Unfortunately, she was almost a head shorter than her tall friend, and Nabat didn't have any problem keeping up.

"Nabat! I'm not going to tell you that!"

If Nabat had eyebrows, Morgana was sure she would be waggling them now. Instead her lekku curled in an extremely suggestive gesture while Nabat nodded sagely. "Pretty fantastic, huh? I thought he would be."

Despite her burning mortification, Morgana couldn't help but laugh. Nabat was so enthusiastic and gleeful that she couldn't keep hold of her irritation for long. "Yes, he was fantastic, okay? Absolutely spectacular." Nabat opened her mouth to bombard her with more questions, but Morgana cut her off. "And I'm not telling you more than that."

Nabat was not so easily put off, and predictably, Morgana's admission only fueled the nosy Twi'lek's desire to know all the sordid details. Through the entire lunch hour, Nabat pestered Morgana with embarrassingly specific questions about size, stamina and creativity that Morgana did her best to ignore and evade. Even though she constantly repeated that it was none of Nabat's business, that didn't stop her friend from trying.

But Morgana only listened with half an ear anyway; her jittery nerves and excitement over the upcoming announcement that was only minutes away occupied the majority of her attention. The seconds seemed to drag as she pushed food that held no interest for her around her plate. The anticipation coiling in her belly was nearly unbearable, but Morgana's daydreams about what she could do with the grant money, as well as Nabat's irritating pestering, helped take her mind off her nerves.

Finally, it was time to head over to the auditorium, where the annual grant winners would be announced. To her surprise, Nabat joined her, stating that there was no way in hell she was going to miss her best friend's most important moment. Even though Morgana didn't say so, since she was still annoyed with her friend's embarrassingly frank cross-examination, she was still touched by her friend's support.

The two of them settled into the cushy auditorium seats and waited for the announcements to begin. It seemed to take forever as students and professors trickled in bit by bit, and Morgana quashed the urge to fidget. However, she couldn't stop her hands from involuntarily wringing, and the nervous knot in Morgana's belly seemed to get tighter and tighter with every passing second.

Her agitation was obvious, especially to someone who knew her as well as Nabat. The Twi'lek grabbed her hands to stop the wringing and shot her a reassuring smile. "Hey, relax. Everyone knows this grant is yours, Ana."

But it wasn't hers yet… at least until they made the announcement. Morgana knew that her work was leaps and bounds above her peers, and she comforted herself with that thought. This moment was both exciting and terrifying, and she wanted it to be over as soon as possible, so that she could finally put the plans she'd been dreaming about for years into action.

Even so, she couldn't stop herself from wringing her hands, nor could she focus on Nabat's constant chatter, at least until Nabat said, "Hey, isn't that Brell?"

Nabat nodded to the door, and Morgana's eyes raked over the bruised and battered man that limped into the room. For a second, she didn't recognize him. But with a shock, she realized that Nabat was right. Underneath the healing cuts and bruises was Brell's handsome face.

"I wonder what the hell happened to him." Nabat's eyes lit up with glee. "Ooh. Maybe your pilot kicked his ass!" The glee quickly turned to stern accusation. "Why didn't you tell me? I've been waiting for that for years! I wanted to watch, dammit."

"No. Carth didn't… I mean, he couldn't…" The words died on her lips as she started to put the pieces together: Carth's bruises, the fact that he'd gotten into a barfight, and everything began to make horrible sense.

_No. Carth wouldn't have lied. Brell must have been in a speeder accident. Or fallen down the stairs…_

Except that it was too coincidental. They both had wanted to fight, and now they were both bruised and injured. And the truth became crystal clear.

_He lied to me, and I'm a stupid, stupid fool._

Gleeful curiosity overwhelming her, Nabat bolted out of her seat and began to pester some of the other grad students who were sitting in the auditorium for the dirt on Brell's injuries. Morgana just sat dumbly in her seat as an icy fury settled over her.

He'd lied. Not directly, but by omission, and she'd been stupid and foolish enough not to see what was right before her eyes.

When Nabat returned, the gossip poured from her lips, confirming Morgana's angry conclusion. "Okay. Word is that he went looking for your pilot last night and totally got his ass kicked." Nabat shot a speculative look over at Brell, and a malicious grin twisted her lips. "Although Brell's denying the whole thing. He probably doesn't want anyone to know how big of a pansy he is. Or sully his good boy reputation."

Morgana was too furious to even respond, but she didn't have to because Professor Obrin took the podium. The program began and the announcements started, and five minutes later, Morgana's life completely fell apart.

* * *

For the balance of the morning and the early afternoon, Carth couldn't seem to wipe away the goofy grin that was plastered across his face. All day long, he simply grinned like an idiot, not even caring very much when his friends decided to rib him during lunch in the officers' mess. Dustil bugged him incessantly all throughout lunch for all of the gory details of what had happened yesterday, and when Carth refused to kiss and tell, stomped off in indignation. Jordo, thankfully, was far more reasonable, keeping his reaction to knowing smiles and a congratulatory remark. Despite the sarcasm, both of his friends seemed to be genuinely happy for him, even if they were annoyed at him for skipping another swoop race yesterday, in order to spend more time naked and alone with Morgana. 

Which was what he was hoping to achieve at the moment. He knew that the announcement for her grant was today, so he was hoping to catch her after her afternoon class, and spend the last few hours before he had to go back on duty celebrating with her, and so he'd sped back over to the university and waited outside the doors of her seminar class.

But when her afternoon seminar let out, Morgana didn't come out the door with the other grad students. Carth took a quick peek inside the room, where her stuffy professor was engaged in an extremely heated argument with Brell, of all people. The engineer's still bruised and battered face turned crimson as the argument heated up.

"I can't believe you, Professor. How could the grant board do that? It's completely unfair."

Outraged that someone had questioned his brilliance, the professor puffed out his chest and responded, "Our decision was hardly unfair. It was based on a variety of factors. Past performance, future project potential, socialization…"

Brell's temper completely snapped. "That's fracking banthashit and you know it. There isn't anyone who's worked harder or done anything that innovative in the last twenty years."

The professor began to drone on about things that Carth couldn't even begin to follow; Carth decided that he'd caused enough trouble in that direction already, and retreated before Brell could notice him.

But now he was worried. Morgana had been absolutely adamant about going to her classes, not only because the announcement was supposed to be today, but because she seemed to genuinely find it difficult to enjoy skipping them. He couldn't imagine that she would skip a third class in three days, unless there was something almost life-threatening in the balance. Panic began to set in.

He made a quick stop at a public comm terminal and punched in the codes for her house. She didn't answer, but a very worried-looking Nabat did after almost a minute and a half.

"Hey, Nabat. I-"

The Twi'lek didn't even wait for him to get his greeting out. Her ghost-white image had barely flickered to life when she cut across his words. "Carth, you need to get over here _right now_."

Fear twisted into a giant and heavy lump in his belly. "What happened?"

"It's Morgana… she…" – her lekku twisted into a knot at the base of her throat – "…she needs you right now."

"Is she okay?"

"No, she's _not_ okay." Nabat's eyes darted to the side, as though she were doing something clandestine against Morgana's wishes, although why Morgana would object to Nabat talking to him, he didn't quite understand.

Panic got the better of him, and he gripped the sides of the comm so tightly, the plaststeel creaked. "Dammit, is she hurt?"

"No. Not physically, anyway. Just get over here as fast as you can." With that cryptic remark, she cut the comm. Carth just stood frozen for a few seconds as he wracked his brain, trying to figure out what could possibly be that bad, before he started jogging to his speeder.

Horrible scenarios flashed through his mind, of relatives dying or someone attacking her, so that by the time he got to her house, he was in a full-blown panic. Sloppily parking his speeder on the side of the street, he sprinted up to the house, where Nabat was already waiting for him at the front door.

"She's out back in the garage. But, Carth, wait-" But Carth couldn't wait any longer, because he had to see for himself that she was okay. So he charged almost at a full run around the house to the garage, ignoring Nabat's warning shouts from behind him.

He burst into the garage, breathless, to see her sitting on a stool next to her workbench with her face in her hands. Carth's stomach plummeted as he took in Morgana's trembling shoulders and hitched sobs, and he swore that whoever made her cry like that was going to have a date with his fists.

"What's wrong? What happened, kitten?" he asked as he rushed to her side. When he cupped her face in his strong hands, she unexpectedly jerked away. It was the last reaction he expected, and it confused the hell out of him.

Her red-rimmed eyes bored into him, and the silent accusation was written all over her face. She wiped her eyes with the back of one of her shaking hands, and he could see her struggling to pull herself together. Carth's protective instincts flared up and made him want to wrap her up in his arms and kiss her until everything was better. It also made him want to give whoever made her this upset a serious ass beating.

"I lost the grant." It was like she was completely numb, and she spoke to him in a toneless and even voice. "They gave my grant to someone else"

Carth's confusion and panic and anger melted away in a burst of relieved laughter. "Is that all?" He let out a breath and raked a hand through his thick hair. "Frack, Ana. I thought something horrible had happened to you."

Cold fury burned in her eyes as her face went from completely distraught to icy disdain. "It _is_ horrible! I've lost everything that I've worked for!"

He reached for her again, but she hopped off the stool and backed away. Confused as to why she kept pulling away from him, he fumbled for something comforting to say. "Ana. It's not that bad. You're brilliant. There will be other grants, other opportunities-"

"Not like this one there won't be. This was a lot of money, and a one-time chance for me. I could have funded my dream projects for the rest of my life with it. And I blew it. I blew two years of working sixteen-hour days, because I was busy worrying and mooning over a thug like you."

Morgana said it in such a calm and matter-of-fact way that her words cut right through his soul, and he couldn't do anything except stare at her, hurt and stupefied. His temper finally kicked in.

"_What?"_

She shook her head as more hurtful things poured from her lips. "I knew that getting involved with you was a mistake, but I was stupid and ignored my common sense. I can't believe that I wasted time on you, when I should have been spending more time on my project, making it better, polishing it up."

"You can't mean that. You can't mean that we're a waste of time. That… that I'm not as important as one stupid fracking grant to you!"

"You hit him." The contempt in her voice and on her face made him physically ill. "You got into a fight with him, like some street thug, after I asked you not to. How could you?"

Carth almost backpedaled, but then his temper got the better of him. He crossed his arms over his chest, deciding that he had nothing to apologize for, even though somewhere in the back of his mind, it was beginning to occur to him that she might have a point. "He had it coming."

"What are you? Twelve or something? What's the matter with you?"

"It's not like he's innocent. He came looking for me! Brell wanted that fight as much as I did."

"That's not the point. You _lied_. You lied to me. You had all day yesterday to tell me and you didn't!" For a second, her icy composure cracked, and he could see the pain that he'd inadvertently caused flash through her eyes. But then it was gone again as she found control, and she blasted him in that hurtfully cold and calm voice. It would have been far, far better had she broken down and yelled at him.

"I feel like such an idiot. Here I was worried about you because you were hurt, and it was really because you were fighting with him like a schoolyard bully."

"Look, I know you're upset, but I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry that you're so upset. I should have told you yesterday, but I was afraid you wouldn't understand why I had to do it, and I didn't want to spoil anything-"

She jerked as though he'd just slapped her, and ice dripped from her voice. "Is that why you didn't tell me yesterday? Because the truth would have screwed up your chance to get fracked?"

"It's not like that, and you know it! You mean everything to me." How she could possibly believe that, especially after what they had shared yesterday, he didn't understand. It was more than just sex — he was absolutely crazy about her, and it hurt like hell that she couldn't see that.

"You're not sorry that you did it. You're just sorry you got caught." Carth didn't know what to say to that, because there was too much truth for comfort in that statement. "I thought you were a nice man, but you're worse than he is. And I wasted my time on you. I should have been working more, but instead I was spending time with an unruly child."

"How can you say that?" He grabbed her shoulders and shook her roughly, his frustration getting the better of him. "How can you say that what we have is a waste of time?"

Morgana shook him off and lifted her chin, her mouth settling into a thin, hard line. "Because it is. Because being with an immature _liar_ isn't more important than my future."

Carth's next words shocked the hell out of both of them. He didn't even realize that it was true, until he spoke them. "But I love you, dammit! Doesn't that matter at all?"

Silence fell between them, and her face grew even more hard and blank. "No, it doesn't. Even if you hadn't lied, I shouldn't have spent time with you. I should have focused on my project, and not had my head in the clouds like some kind of stupid lovestruck schoolgirl. But that you lied made it so much worse. Just go away, and leave me alone."

Grinding his teeth in sheer frustration and anger, Carth simply stared at her in disbelief. But the warm and caring woman that he'd come to love was nowhere in sight; instead, a cold and angry woman stood before him – someone he didn't even recognize. Despair and frustration clawed through him and he clenched his fists, and suppressed his urge to put his fists through the nearest wall.

In the back of his mind, he knew that this was partially his fault, but he'd poured his guts out to her, admitted that he loved her, and she didn't even care. All she cared about was that stupid fracking grant.

"Fine. If your stupid grant means more to you than I do, then I'll go. But I love you, Ana. Too bad all you love are your engines."

Hurt more than he ever thought possible, Carth squared his shoulders and stalked out the door, cursing loudly but not looking back.


	12. Red Alert

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 12 – Red Alert**_

Temper still raging from having his heart torn out and stomped on just minutes before, Carth stormed into his apartment, and was annoyed beyond belief that Jordo and Dustil were camping out… again. Unfortunately, he didn't have the option to drink himself blind this time, since he was on duty in just a few hours, but he wanted to at least be able to spend it brooding alone in his apartment.

Furious, Carth stared at his unsuspecting friends, who were lounging all over his large leather couch, drinking his beer and eating the leftovers of the dinner he and Morgana had ordered in last night. It brought the vivid and unwelcome picture of her, soft and beautiful and dressed only in his robe as they shared Corellian noodles, and Carth simply couldn't reconcile that woman with the distant, cold and angry one who had just told him to stay the hell out of her life.

Since he couldn't take out his frustration on Morgana, he turned to the two handiest people. He crossed his arms over his chest and glared at his friends. "Dammit, don't you guys have anywhere else to go?"

Jordo, who hadn't quite picked up on the fact that Carth was actually angry, laughed. "Nah. You know that we don't." Pilfered beer still in hand, he gestured towards the holovid player Carth had won by cheating at pazaak. "Besides, you know you've got the best holovid player on the base." Jordo's eyes narrowed when he realized that Carth wasn't joking. "Hey, are you okay?"

That his friends were witnessing his misery, yet again, was too much for his pride to take. Carth's temper snapped. "I'm tired of tripping over your sorry asses all the time. Get out."

Dustil shot him a dirty look and snapped back, oblivious to the food spraying from his full mouth. "What the hell crawled up your ass and died, Onasi? I thought you'd be happy now that you finally got her into bed."

It was so typical that Dustil thought this was just about sex. "Well, I'm not, all right? We just had a fight, and I want to be alone right now, but I can't be because you two clowns are always in here. So get the hell out."

Dustil stood abruptly, spilling beer and noodles all over the floor in the process. "_Fine._ We're going."

Jordo stood much more gracefully. "Whoa, wait. What the hell happened?"

"She's mad about Brell. And she lost her grant. We had a fight and she told me to get lost."

_After I spilled my guts out_ _and_ _I told her I loved her -- and she threw it back in my face._

That it was true made everything ten times worse. Carth knew that he was out of his mind, head-over-heels crazy for her, and she didn't even care. But there was no way he was going to admit that out loud to his friends.

Dustil, loyal to a fault, declared, "Damn, what a schutta. But there's no reason to get your panties in a twist over it. No woman is worth this kind of shit."

Carth didn't even think, he simply rushed across the room, grabbed Dustil by his collar, and slammed Dustil up against the nearest wall. "Don't call her that. Ever," he ground out as his hands tightened on Dustil's collar. Incensed, Dustil turned red and shoved Carth back, and the two men glared at each other. Before they could hit each other, Jordo stepped in between the two of them.

"Stop it. Quit acting like dumbasses."

Dustil glared and rubbed his neck. "_You_ tell him to stop it. _He's_ the one acting like an asshole over some stupid broad."

Carth hated that he still had an automatic protective instinct when it came to her. Nonetheless, it was still there and as strong as ever. "She's _not_ a stupid broad-"

"All right, knock it off! Calm down, both of you. You boneheads are both on the same side."

Sullen, Dustil pointed at Carth. "He started it."

"Yeah, but you're the jackass who just insulted the woman he's in love with."

"What? Are you kidding? Carth's not stupid enough to…" Dustil caught sight of Carth's livid face, and let out a long-suffering sigh. "Aw… frack, Onasi. You did, didn't you?"

Carth didn't say anything to that. Feeling like a complete moron, he glared at his friends, clenching and unclenching his fists, wanting to pummel Dustil, Jordo and anyone else who happened to be nearby, trying to figure out how to salvage the tattered remnants of his dignity and shattered pride.

The silence stretched for a few tense seconds as the three men glared at each other, but it was broken by the sound of the base alarm going off. The tension in the room shifted into wary anticipation, because they were now on red alert.

* * *

Morgana couldn't shake the cold anger and bitter frustration that burrowed under her skin -- at Carth, at the grant board, and at life in general. Needing an outlet for her anger before she lost her mind, her first instinct was to tear her engine project apart and find out why the board thought it was deficient, but she simply couldn't bring herself to even look at it yet because it was just far too depressing. It would have to be done eventually, but she simply didn't feel up to facing her deficiencies just yet. And really, in the end it didn't matter. The decision was made and her future was gone. All the plans that she'd painstakingly made, all of the dreams of engines and unlimited funds were now gone. 

It hurt too much to think about. Shockingly, thinking about Carth hurt just as much.

Still, she desperately needed to find something to do to get her mind off the last few disastrous hours, something that didn't involve nosy Twi'lek friends pestering her and offering unsolicited advice about her now non-existent love life.

That Carth was no longer a part of her life made her want to break down and cry again, despite the fact that she kept telling herself she should be relieved that he was gone, not broken up about it. She was absolutely furious with herself, because there was a small but insistent voice in her head telling her to go find and forgive him, despite the fact that her relationship with him had cost her future. Morgana knew that if she didn't find something to take her mind off her liar ex-boyfriend, she might do exactly that, so she squared her shoulders, gathered up her tools and went into the house.

Six hours later, she had torn apart and modified the housekeeping droid and almost all of the kitchen appliances. When her nosy friend made the inevitable appearance, pretending to have her head stuck in a project had the added benefit of keeping Nabat's slew of invasive questions at bay. Nabat made every effort to get Morgana to open up about her feelings, but after several minutes of terse responses, stony replies and flat-out ignoring from Morgana, her friend had finally given up, stalking off in a disgruntled huff, to Morgana's intense relief.

Sadly, busy work didn't help. While her hands were busy, the project was simply too menial to require much focus. Involuntarily, her mind kept wandering back to Carth, especially the pain reflected in his big brown eyes.

_But I love you, Ana. Too bad all you love are your engines._

That was because engines were simple, efficient things of beauty, far easier to understand and to plan around, unlike people. Engines didn't lie, or beat up ex-boyfriends, or tempt her to waste her time, or tie her in knots, or make her feel like she wanted to crawl into a hole and cry for a week. Engines didn't screw up her plans.

And everything had been going according to plan until Carth came along. A plan that she'd had outlined for herself even before she'd come to the university, one that she'd had since she was just a little kid. A plan that included two degrees, and a grant that would have set her up to do her dream projects for the rest of her life. A plan that didn't include getting all gooey over one rowdy pilot who ate up all of her free time.

The treasonous voice reared up again, pointing out that her engines hadn't stopped the lonely ache she'd felt before Carth had blundered into her life. And that engines couldn't share dinner with her, or make her laugh, or turn her into a puddle with just a cocky grin. And that plans didn't mean very much if she didn't have someone to share them with.

She was flat on her back underneath the sonic sink, readjusting the synchronizer and wiping away more tears when the back door hissed open. Angry that Nabat would harass her again, and mortified that she'd almost been caught crying again, she ignored her friend and groped blindly for her hydrospanner.

"Go away, Nabat," she snapped with a voice that was still thick with tears when the intruder made no sign of leaving. "I don't want to talk."

But it wasn't Nabat's voice that answered, and the hand that appeared in her vision clutching the hydrospanner was distinctly masculine. For a second, she thought it was Carth, and she hated the spike of relief that that brought.

"I thought you might feel like that, but I wanted to stop by and make sure you were okay."

When Brell's voice drifted down to her, Morgana was even more profoundly grateful that her head was stuck under the sink. She took the hydrospanner from his hand, and used the few seconds it took to adjust the synchronizer to pull herself together, before shimmying out from underneath the sink and facing Brell, who was crouched down on the floor next to her. Morgana tried to think of something to say, but after their disastrous dinner and break-up, she had no idea how to react to him.

Fortunately, Brell continued, undaunted by her dumbfounded stare. "Ana, I know how upset you must be. I know how much this grant meant to you. You worked the hardest, and your work was the best and most innovative. I just wanted you to know that _I_ thought you should have won that grant."

"Thank you." Morgana couldn't quite look at him, so she studied the heavy metal tool in her hand with more intensity than was truly necessary. "But it wasn't good enough, was it? I should have worked harder, focused more."

When she finally did manage to look at him, she was shocked and irritated to see that he was rolling his eyes. "Oh, Ana, don't be stupid. You didn't lose that grant because your project wasn't good enough. Your stuff is brilliant and you know it. You've worked your tail off for two years, and I know for a fact that you've worked twice as hard as everyone else. No. You lost it because you didn't kiss as much ass as the others did."

But Morgana couldn't believe him, still rebelling over the idea that flattery could win over merit. "But-"

"Ana, look. While you were here isolated in your lab, the others were out having dinner with the grant board, and buttering them up every single opportunity they got. That's why they won."

Morgana's guts tightened; the last thing she needed was Brell's smug gloating. "If you came here to tell me that you told me so, then please leave."

He held his hands up in a conciliatory gesture. "No… Look, I'm sorry, okay. I didn't come here to gloat. I just know how you are, and that you were probably beating yourself up for not working hard enough, when I know that you poured everything you had into this project. What they did to you… wasn't right, and I told Obrin that right to his face."

At that moment, Morgana realized that Brell truly did care about her. Brell's reputation was something he cultivated carefully. That he would risk the ire of Professor Obrin just to stick up for her meant a lot, and she couldn't help but be touched. "Oh. Thank you. You didn't have to do that."

"I wanted to. He had it coming." His hands clenched and she could see his frustration in his face. "Even after what happened between us the other night, I still love you, and I care about what happens to you."

Once again, she had no idea of what to say or how to react, and her emotions towards both men, that she'd thought she'd finally sorted out, jumbled once again into a confusing tangle.

Brell cleared his throat, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had fallen between them, his disappointment at her lack of reaction obvious, even though he was making an effort to shrug it off.

"Don't worry. I didn't come back here to push you into dumping that thug. I lost you and it was my own damn fault. I just wanted you to know that I care, and that if you need something… anything, just call me, okay?"

Morgana chose not to inform him that she'd broken it off with Carth, too, knowing that would just complicate things even more. "I'm sorry that he hit you. He shouldn't have done that."

"Don't apologize for him. He and I, we've been itching for a fight since… we both wanted it, and that's not your fault."

Brell forced a smile onto his face. "But anyway, I don't want to talk about him. I want to know if you've started working on your appeal yet."

Morgana blinked. She hadn't actually considered appealing the board's decision. "I really don't see the point. You know that no one's ever won an appeal before."

Incredulous, Brell stared at her. "You're not going to just lay down and let them do this to you, are you? You have to appeal this!"

"I don't know, Brell. I-"

"You can't just give up on this. This is your dream. Get up and fight for it."

Brell's words galvanized her, and hot shame flooded Morgana for even considering throwing in the towel. "You're right. Give me a day to finish sulking, and I'll start on it tomorrow."

The cocky and arrogant smile was more like the Brell she remembered. "Of course I'm right."

For a second, she thought he was going to move closer to her, but he must have thought better of it, because he stopped and moved back. Morgana stifled her relieved sigh. And Brell took her lack of encouragement as his cue to leave.

"I should go, but if you don't mind, I'll stop in tomorrow. Maybe I can help you with your appeal."

"Thank you, Brell. I'd appreciate it. That means a lot."

He nodded and stood, and after a few more awkward seconds, he left, leaving Morgana sitting stunned, surrounded by sonic sink parts in the middle of the kitchen floor.

* * *

With a soft grunt, Carth stretched his cramped legs out as best he could in the tiny cockpit of the MC-3 fighter and rubbed his bleary eyes with one tired hand. Behind him in the navigator's seat, Dustil groaned and yawned. Even though Carth did his best to stifle it, the contagious nature of the yawn won out, and Carth surrendered and gave in to the impulse himself. 

Due to the powerful sensor equipment that it carried, the two-man MC-31 was far bulkier and a lot less fun to fly than the sleek Z-27 that he usually few. Even worse, he was flying with Dustil as his navigator and gunner. Other than what was necessary to carry out their duties, he and Dustil hadn't spoken to each other for over three days, neither man willing to admit that they'd been wrong.

Frustrated and bored, Carth forced himself to focus on the instrument panel showing readings of the fourth planet in a small star system they'd been sweeping for the last eleven hours. For the last three days, the men and women of his squadron had been on a fifteen-hour rotation, and it was starting to take its toll on their squadron.

But it wasn't just their own squadron on red alert; all of the Republic Fleet ships in the sector, as well as the not-inconsiderable Corellian Security Force, were scouring the twenty-four Corellian star systems, searching for a hijacked Corellian transport and its two thousand plus passengers that were being held hostage.

Initially, when the Republic Senate had sent the Fleet to the Corellian Sector in an effort to curb the rampant piracy, they had been remarkably successful, managing to cut down on hijackings and thefts by over sixty percent. Unfortunately, the once-ragtag group of independent smugglers and pirates had become unified in the face of the Republic threat, increasing their effectiveness and growing bolder with every passing day, until finally they'd hijacked a Corellian cruiser bound for Telos in retaliation to Corellia's cooperation with the Republic Fleet. And now they were executing one passenger an hour until the Republic agreed to remove its forces from the sector. Which was why his squadron was spread thin, flying two-ship patrols in an effort to cover distance as quickly as possible.

Julia's voice crackled from over the comm, and Carth looked out the front of his viewport, where Julia's fighter was in the lead. Carth dropped into the wingman position, waiting for orders from his squadron leader.

"Red two, incoming orders from Captain Karath. We sweep this system and head back to Mother." Carth sighed; he'd been hoping that they would be relieved by now and on their way back to the_ Relentless_. On the other hand, he knew that when he got back, he'd have nothing to occupy his time except wallowing in misery, so maybe one last sweep wasn't a bad thing.

Julia knew her pilots well enough to guess that fatigue was starting to wear on them. "Keep sharp, guys. I know you're tired and bored, but we need to keep alert."

Carth keyed the comm and answered for both himself and Dustil. "Copy that, Red Leader."

From the fact that they hadn't already been recalled back to the _Relentless_, Carth knew that all of the other sensor sweeps of the other systems hadn't turned up anything. It was frustrating to know that there was a bunch of innocent and scared civilians out there that they simply couldn't find. But twenty-four Corellian systems was a lot of area to cover, even with five Republic cruisers and most of CorSec sweeping the systems. The work was slow and painstaking, and so far, fruitless.

"Snuggle up, Red Two. We're going in," Julia ordered as her fighter broke the atmosphere. Carth banked left, staying on her wing while they descended into the dirty brown clouds of the planet below. "The faster we get this sweep done, the faster Onasi can go home to his cute girlfriend."

Carth grimaced, trying to keep his mind on the dustball that passed for a planet below and off of Morgana. While in theory the planet was habitable, with an atmosphere that was breathable to at least humans, it was rocky, barren and probably frigid as hell. Carth was very glad that he was snug in his ship and not actually down on the planet's surface.

He didn't correct Julia's statement, or mention to her that he probably didn't have a girlfriend to go home to anymore. While she would have been a great person to ask advice from, he sure as hell wasn't going to ask in front of Dustil, whom he was still pissed at, and Julia's Sullustan navigator, whom he really didn't know.

Dustil grunted behind him, but thankfully didn't mention anything to Julia either, but Carth could still feel his friend's disapproving glare in between his shoulder blades. The same stony silence that had blanketed the cockpit for nearly three days, interrupted only by the clacking of Dustil punching buttons on the nav comp equipment, accompanied them down to the planet's surface. But as the ochre-colored rocks streaked past as they started their sweep, Julia let out an exasperated sigh. There was a soft clicking sound as Julia switched over to a private frequency that only Dustil and Jordo could hear.

She dropped the formality as she blasted both of them. "What the hell is wrong with the two of you? Normally I can't get you guys to shut up, but you haven't said two words to each other this whole damn shift."

Dustil spoke first. "That's because Carth's a dipshit."

Julia chuckled before Carth could make a terse response. "You're _both_ dipshits. Tell me something I don't already know."

"I said some things about his ex-girlfriend, and he slammed me against the wall."

Carth could picture the puzzled frown that Julia was probably wearing. "You got mad at him for talking about Tanis? I though we all agreed that she was a bitch."

Dustil helpfully cleared up her confusion, and Carth palmed his face, knowing that the following conversation was going to be beyond annoying. At least she'd switched to a private frequency so that her own navigator, and any of the other Republic ships that happened to be in range, wouldn't be able witness his embarrassment and mortification. Not that there were probably any within comm range since the fleet was spread so thin.

"Nah, not Tanis. Morgana."

Even over the crackling comm, Julia was clearly shocked. "You broke up with Morgana? Why? She was such a sweetheart!"

"I didn't break up with her, dammit! _She_ was the one who told me to get lost."

"Why? What the hell did you do to her?"

Carth couldn't hide his anger and frustration. "Why are you assuming that I did something to her? Did it ever even occur to you that she could have done something to me?"

Wry silence was her only response.

Giving up the fight, Carth eased up on the thrusters as they hit the planet's atmosphere, and spilled his guts. "She was upset that she didn't get the grant that she'd been gunning for. Told me that she shouldn't be wasting her time on a liar like me."

"Why did she think that you lied?" Julia asked, her puzzlement clear in her voice and Carth nearly groaned aloud because he knew that she would continue poking and prodding until she got her answer.

"Because I… uh… didn't tell her about the fight I had with Brell," Carth mumbled so quickly that the words slurred together.

Unfortunately, Julia caught every word. "Ah. Well, she shouldn't have told you that you were a waste of her time. That was wrong. But damn, Carth, you should have told her about that fight."

Dustil's loyalty flared up again, forgetting that he was giving Carth the silent treatment. "Hey, why should he have to tell her about that fight? That was between him and the pretty boy. He shouldn't have to apologize for that!"

There was a part of Carth that realized that, if Dustil was on his side, he was probably wrong. The thought made his head hurt.

Julia confirmed his nagging inner thoughts. "First of all, trying to hide it from her was as stupid as hell. It was only a matter of time before she found out. Second, while asskicking is rather fun, it's not exactly the adult way to solve problems. But she seems like a nice girl, she'll come around."

Carth stared out the front viewscreen at the desolate and rocky surface. "I don't think she will. She told me that it wouldn't have mattered whether or not I'd lied. That the time she spent with me was a waste because it cost her that grant."

"Oh… ouch. That _is_ pretty cold," Julia admitted.

"Yeah," Carth muttered, his fingers tightening on the yoke until his knuckles turned white.

"Look, Carth, she probably didn't mean it. People say stupid things when they're upset."

"But it was just a stupid grant. I know it meant a lot to her, but it wasn't the end of the world." _Not the way having the woman you're in love with tell you that you're a waste of her time. _ "She's smart," he continued. "She won't have any problems getting a job."

But Julia wouldn't let him dismiss it so easily. "It sounds like she had her heart set on that grant."

"Yeah. It was a lot of money. She would have been able to fund her dream research with it. She said it was a once-in-a-lifetime shot, but I think she's overreacting."

"It sounds like a hell of an opportunity. It had to hurt. Probably as much as it would have hurt you, if you'd been denied entrance into the Fleet Academy."

Carth blinked. "Yeah, that would be pretty bad."

He hadn't thought of it quite like that, or at least he hadn't _wanted_ to think about it that way. Carth couldn't imagine a life outside of his squadron, not one that he wanted to live, anyway, and he could see, now that he wasn't blinded by anger or giddy relief over her safety, how she'd feel the same way about this grant. While he wasn't proud of it, he was beginning to realize that there a part of him that wanted to believe that he was the only important thing in her life. Being forced to see that that wasn't the case still burned, but he could see now how that would be both unrealistic and completely unfair to expect that from her. On the other hand, he was still angry that he didn't seem to matter to her at all. Hell, he figured he deserved to be at least as important as that damn grant.

"I'm not saying she was right, Carth. She shouldn't have said those things, but if you want my advice, you should try to talk to her again once she cools off about her ex and the grant. She seems nice; she'll come around, you'll see. And if not, then maybe she wasn't the woman you thought she was, and you'll be better off without her."

The pathetic part was that he didn't want to be without her. He'd only known her for a short time, but the idea of life without her was damn near inconceivable. After his last fight with her, he felt like a complete and utter fool for still feeling this way, but that didn't change the way he felt.

When Carth didn't respond, Julia laughed, and Carth's indignation soared. "Cheer up, Onasi. It's not the end of the world."

His bitter retort died on his lips when the ship's alarms began to blare through the cockpits of both ships.

"Incoming freighter, bearing down on us from mark-" Dustil rattled off a bunch of numbers over the main comm channel while Carth and Julia both tried to get visual confirmation.

Julia let out a string of curses. "Damn, they're close. Keep your guard up, Red Two, and no firing until we're sure it's a hostile. We don't want to take out an innocent civvie by accident."

Dustil's question echoed everyone's thoughts. "Yeah, but what are the odds of it being a civilian way out here on the ass end of the Corellian system?"

"I know." Julia's voice was calm and cool.

Carth tensed as he followed Julia's lead; he could hear her voice crackling over the comm. "Unidentified freighter. This is Squadron Leader Julia Skye with the Republic Fleet. Identify yourself."

There was a squelch of feedback gibberish from the ship, and then silence as they were completely ignored. Julia tried hailing them again, but there was still no response from the ship. Even after a warning shot across the bow, the ship barreled forward, and began a series of clumsy evasive maneuvers that was almost comical in its ineptness. And then, in the front viewport, they got a visual of a series of what should have been derelict buildings, but there were far too many ships for it to be abandoned. They'd found their pirate base.

Julia immediately banked her fighter left, dropping the trail of the freighter. "Red Two, I think we've found our pirates. Let's get the hell out of here before they scramble their ships."

"Copy that, Red Leader."

Carth automatically followed her lead, increasing his speed to match hers, when Dustil's words sent a surge of adrenaline pounding through him. "I'm picking up ten incoming hostiles, Red Leader."

Menacing red dots blinked on Carth's screen. The freighter must have commed ahead and warned the base. As they flew in tense silence, Carth knew that Julia was doing a quick mental calculation. There were only two of them against ten fighters, and possibly more if they stuck around. The only option now was to run. He could hear her barking orders out to her navigator, although the comm was thick with static now. "Get those coordinates transmitted now."

Her Sullustan navigator responded in thick, accented Basic. "I can't, Red Leader. They're jamming all long-distance frequencies."

"What about you, Red Two?" she asked. "Can you transmit?"

Dustil's normal irreverence was gone as his friend focused completely on the situation, and he could hear Dustil furiously working behind him, trying to find a way to get around the jamming device. "Negative."

Carth's sensors lit up bright red as the incoming fighters came into range. Sleek, deadly, and clearly hostile, Carth knew that they were in some serious trouble.

Julia's orders buzzed through the comm. "All right, then. We run until we get away from their jammers. Getting these coordinates back to Mother is the highest priority. Got it?"

"Copy that, Red Leader."

"If we split up, our odds are better that one of us will get through." Julia veered off due west while Carth banked east. Fear made sweat bead on his forehead, but then the surge of adrenaline pushed the fear aside, and calm focus blanketed him as he concentrated on finding a way to shake the incoming fighters.

"Bug out, Red Two, and don't get caught. May the Force be with you," was the last thing she said before the sky erupted in red blaster fire.

* * *

Once again, I owe xenzen a big enormous thank you for helping me iron out this absolute mess of a chapter. It wouldn't be readable or even remotely realistic if it weren't for her. And a big thank you to Dinah Lance for the link to an excellent page on fighter pilot jargon which helped with the flavor of this chapter greatly. 

In addition, I really appreciate the excellent feedback that was left by everyone. It was extremely helpful in helping me pinpoint what felt a bit off about the last chapter.

And Alexandra, I agree. Morgana is one of those characters that gets shortchanged a lot in kotor fanfics. I'd love to see you write another one (I really liked what you did with her in the last kfm dueling challenge), because I know it would be a very good read.


	13. Behind Enemy Lines

Yes, I'm back, and this time I'm going to finish this story up. I apologize for the year hiatus, but it seems like this story won't leave me alone until I actually finish it. I owe two people a huge thank you for their help – xenzen for her excellent beta of this chapter, and Hekate whose excellent commentary she sent me helped crystallize and clarify where I'd like to go for the rest of this story.

* * *

_**Common Ground**_

_**Chapter 13 – Behind Enemy Lines**_

The part of Carth's mind that wasn't focused on barreling through a rocky canyon and dodging cannon fire from four fighters was amazed at how things could go from merely embarrassing to completely fracked up in less than a minute.

Carth gripped the yoke and sent his fighter into a spin, using his fighter's superior speed to keep the hostiles from cutting them off. Behind him, Dustil shouted, "Hell, yeah!" when one of the enemy fighters exploded from a direct hit from a sonic missile. The other three fighters behind it flew through the billowing cloud of smoke and flames, still hot on their tail.

While Carth had managed to prevent the hostiles from getting a missile lock on their fighter, their ship's shields cracked and shimmered under the constant barrage of laser fire. Carth looped through the canyon, coming within centimeters of the rocky cliff face as Dustil opened fire again. Thrown off by the maneuver, one of the hostiles flew too close to the wall, clipping the side of the canyon, and spun out of control, colliding with a second fighter.

Carth was too busy flying to see the explosion, but the aftershock shook his ship so hard that his clenched teeth started to ache. For the first time since the dogfight began, he allowed himself to believe they might get out of this alive. All they had to do was ditch one last fighter and they could break the atmosphere and contact their command ship.

But Dustil ended Carth's moment of grim elation; his nonchalant, annoyed tone was undercut by the too-shrill edge to his voice. "Rear stabilizers are blown and our shields are down to eighteen percent. One more hit and we're done."

Carth grunted an affirmative. Knowing that without the shelter of the canyon they were completely defenseless, he sent the fighter into a near-vertical climb. He heard Dustil's string of panicked profanity over the blaring warning systems.

"Come on, Onasi. Stop being a lazy ass and shake 'em off!"

Cold sweat trickled down Carth's temples. Seconds were stretched out by dreadful anticipation. His lungs burned as he held his breath, waiting for their ship to be blown into tiny little particles.

Dustil's console chirped behind him as he fired off their last sonic missile, and then they were thrown forward in their seats, deafened by the explosion as the left wing, clipped by a missile, disintegrated.

The world blurred into a blinding, gut-churning spin. Carth didn't have time to think, just react; Carth's knuckles turned white as he clenched the yoke and tried to pull them out of the downward spiral. A quick glance at the instrument panel through the black spots that swam across his vision told him that their primary systems were completely offline, and they were barely keeping power under their depleted backup systems.

He didn't know if their last missile had landed on the hostile, and there was no time to check. Carth focused on pulling them out of the spin, desperately trying to find a good place to dump the ship. Carth made the split-second decision to dump the ship in a nearby lake, using what was left of his shattered systems to dump speed so that they wouldn't be vaporized by the impact.

Everything shook and blurred again when the ship hit the water. It skipped along the surface in two bone-crunching impacts before flipping over and splashing to a halt.

Half conscious, Carth hung upside down in his harness. The instrument panels popped and sparked, and then powered down completely with a dreary hum. The ship sank, daylight faded, and Carth couldn't seem to do anything but hang in dazed silence. He tried to concentrate on what Dustil was shouting behind him, but it seemed muffled and distant.

Through the haze of shock and pain, Carth heard a creak from the front duraglass viewscreen. He stared at the duraglass panel in stunned confusion for several fuzzy seconds before realizing that he was looking at a long crack. The crack started out small, but quickly splintered out, fracturing the entire panel. There was a crunch, and then cold, muddy water hit him square in the chest.

Water rushed into the compartment, pooling on the ceiling of their ship. Dustil's hand clamped on his shoulder as he shouted in Carth's ear, "Hold your breath. I'm popping the canopy!"

Nodding, Carth took a deep breath, struggling not to gasp when cold water sluiced over him. The canopy drifted away below them, almost in slow motion, into the murky, dark depths of the lake.

Carth's numb fingers fumbled with his safety harness. Panic bubbled through him when he realized the locking mechanism had somehow jammed in the crash. Still sinking with the ship, Carth struggled to reach the dagger that he always kept in his boot, but the safety harness was too taut for him to reach it. The sickly daylight faded as he sank further down, and Carth realized that if he didn't get free in the next few seconds, he was going to die attached to his ship.

By the time Dustil's scowling face appeared in front of his own, Carth's lungs were burning. Dustil pulled a knife from his own boot; it glinted in the gloom as Dustil sliced through the harness. Carth knew that it was probably only a few seconds, but it seemed to take forever for Dustil to cut through the straps. When Dustil finally managed to cut him loose, they worked themselves free of the sinking ship. At first, Carth was completely disoriented, but then his training, solidified by endless crash drills, kicked in and he and Dustil followed the air bubbles to the surface.

He was so tired that the last few strokes to the surface felt like kilometers. Carth forced his aching body upwards until his head broke the surface, and both men gasped for air.

Breathless and freezing, they treaded water for a few seconds, trying to get their bearings. Finally, Dustil broke into a grin, laughing as he started swimming awkwardly towards the southern shore. "It's a good thing you're so pretty, 'cause you can't fly for shit."

Carth snorted, the tension sliding off him as he began to laugh and follow his friend. "Fine, hotshot. Next time you can fly and I'll sit on my ass in the backseat and polish my nails the way you do."

"You'd think you'd be more grateful to the guy who just saved your worthless hide," Dustil panted as he made ripples in the black water. He may have sounded cocky, but Carth could tell by the slow way he was swimming that his friend was just as exhausted as he was. Their flight jumpsuits and boots, now waterlogged with freezing water, were making it difficult for both men to swim, and progress towards the shore was maddeningly slow.

Carth truly was grateful, knowing that he'd be dead if it weren't for Dustil. He also knew that if he didn't admit it, Dustil would harp on the subject for days. "All right, all right. I'll buy you the biggest steak and coldest beer I can find when we get back to base."

Dustil shot him a disdainful look. "I just saved your life. Come on, you can come up with something better than that!"

"You have something in mind?' Carth asked, knowing full well that Dustil probably did, figuring that it would probably have something to do with lots of liquor and cantina dancers.

Dustil came up with something even more outrageous. "Yeah. I think you should name your firstborn kid after me."

Carth laughed so hard that he ended up swallowing a mouthful of cold water and choking for a few seconds.

"What? Why is that so funny?" Dustil demanded as he slapped Carth on the back a couple of times.

"How _isn't_ that funny?" Carth finally managed to choke out.

"Hey, I just saved your life! The least you could do is show me a bit of respect." Apparently satisfied that Carth wasn't going to drown again, Dustil resumed swimming towards shore, but stayed within arm's reach of his friend.

Even though he liked kids, the idea of one of his own was completely alien. But it wasn't an unpleasant thought, and his mind couldn't help but wander to Morgana, wondering what kind of kids they would have had if things had worked out.

"What if my firstborn is a girl?" he blurted out, picturing a gaggle of golden-haired girls. It made him ache knowing that there was no possibility of that happening now.

"Huh." Dustil considered the problem for a brief moment, before brightening again. "You could always call her Dustilla."

Carth laughed even harder, but this time managed to avoid half drowning himself again. "Dustilla?"

"Okay, okay." Even Dustil couldn't keep a straight face over that. "You don't have to name a girl after me. Just a boy."

"All right, fine. If it will shut you up, I promise that if I ever have a son, I'll name him after you."

Dustil's troublemaking grin broke across his face, although the effect was spoiled a bit by the fact that his lips were starting to turn blue.

"Sweet," Dustil declared through chattering teeth.

Carth swam the final few meters to shore, trying to ignore how heavy his limbs were getting by focusing on what an idiot his friend was. Dustil lapsed into silence, and a quick glance over at his friend told Carth that Dustil was struggling just as much as he was. After several long, cold and miserable minutes, they both collapsed on the rocky beach, panting.

"What now?" Dustil asked as he rolled over, wrenched off one of his boots and dumped the water out of it.

Anything Carth was about to say was cut off by the roar of Julia's fighter streaking across the sky with two hostile fighters hot on her tail. For a wild, hopeful second, Carth thought Julia was going to shake them when one of her missiles scored a direct hit. But it wasn't enough, and they could only watch, horrified and helpless, as the other fighter fired a pair of sonic missiles. Julia's fighter exploded in an orange ball of flame, lighting up the dreary sky.

* * *

Sitting at the kitchen table, Morgana scrolled through the datapad one more time, checking and rechecking her appeal. Brell shook his head and helped himself to a second helping of Corellian noodles, almost managing to keep the irritation out of his voice. "It's as finished as it's going to get." 

Morgana bit her lip and clutched the datapad, unwilling to let it go just yet. "I'm not sure that it's ready." She started to scan through the contents again. "I should really re-check-"

He snatched it away, setting it out of reach and flashed her a smile. "It's done, it's perfect, and it's time for you to relax."

Morgana sighed, trying really hard not to be annoyed with him. Over the last several days, Brell had generously spent long hours with her, poring over every detail of her project and painstakingly helping her put an appeal together before the deadline tomorrow. To be irritated with him now seemed ungenerous at best, so she folded her twitching fingers in her lap.

"I'm not sure that I can relax. I'm probably going to be up all night." She was not about to admit to Brell that nervousness over her appeal was only part of the reason why.

She stared down at her food and began to pick at it, trying to summon up her appetite and trying not to think about Carth. Brell had been thoughtful enough to bring dinner with him. The least she could do was eat some of it.

Brell frowned at her. "You should relax while you can. You do realize that once you turn this in, your work has just started, right?"

Nodding, she set her fork down, grateful the conversation gave her an excuse not to eat. "I know. I have two more finals to study for." At least that was something she really wouldn't have to worry about too much. She was pretty confident that after a day or so of review she'd be able to ace them the way she usually did. Still, she knew herself well enough to realize that she was probably going to compulsively study for them anyway. "But if they grant me a hearing, it won't be until after midwinter break, which will at least give me time to study for my finals."

"I'm not talking about your finals, or the hearing in a couple of weeks." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "You're not going to like this, Ana, but you're going to have to start meeting people."

Morgana could feel the color drain out of her face. "I am?"

"Yeah. Once school starts up again, the University puts on a series of cocktail parties and events, and you need to be there."

"But-"

He cut her off with a wave of his hand. "There's no 'but' about it. You asked for my help, and I'm telling you that this is what you need to do if you want this grant. These people need to meet you. Your appeal is going to stir up a ton of controversy. There are a lot of egos at stake here, and if the Regents are going to override the grant board's decision, they need to put a face to the person behind the appeal. They need to like you and want you to win."

Fear over social occasions that were only weeks away choked her into silence. Finally she managed, "I don't know if I can do this."

Brell nodded towards the datapad and crossed his arms over his chest. "Then there's no point in turning this in tomorrow."

Her dismay was so acute that she simply sat in morose silence, staring out the window at the softly falling snow.

When Brell's warm hand touched her shoulder, she nearly started in shock. He flashed her an encouraging smile. "Hey. It won't be so bad. I'll help you. I know all the people you'll need to meet, and I'll go with you. You don't have to do this alone."

"Thank you for your help. I really am grateful," she said, squelching irrational thoughts about how she wanted it to be Carth helping her through those social occasions and not Brell. That she was still mooning over him made her feel like the biggest fool ever, but no matter what she tried, she just couldn't seem to stop.

"Anytime."

Morgana forced herself not to move back, knowing that he was only trying to comfort her. Brell didn't move his hand; he just stared at her, eyes burning with intensity. Awkward silence fell, and Morgana didn't really know what else to do or say. She was desperately trying to think of a way out of the situation when Nabat appeared, scowling at them from the doorway. Her lekku flattened against her neck as she glared at Brell. Brell's shoulders tightened.

"Look who's here again." Nabat flashed her less-than-friendly smile at Brell; her eyes flickered over Brell's hand. "Don't you ever go home?"

Morgana used the interruption to move back. Brell scowled and let his hand drop to the table.

Brell spat out, "Hello, Nabat."

Knowing what was coming, Morgana scrambled to do some damage control. "Nabat, please. He's here because I asked him to be."

That seemed to make her friend even surlier. Her glare shifted from Brell to Morgana. "Mmm, I know. That doesn't make me very happy with you either."

Brell crossed his arms over his chest. "I didn't realize she needed your permission. But then, you've always tried to run her life, haven't you?"

"Someone has to, especially if Ana's going to be a dumbass and get involved with a jerkwad like you again."

"Why don't you let her make her own choices, instead of bullying her to do what you want?"

"Right," Nabat snorted. "Because you've never tried to run her life either. At least I care about her."

Brell's handsome face twisted in anger. "And I don't? That's banthashit and you know it!"

Chair legs squeaked against the kitchen floor as Morgana shot to her feet. "Enough!"

Brell looked like he was about to retort, but decided against it. He rose and snatched his materials up. "I don't have to take this kind of shit from you."

Morgana followed him to the front door, but not before throwing a glare in Nabat's direction. "I'm sorry. She shouldn't treat you like this."

He shook his head and shrugged his coat on. "Don't worry about it, I should get going anyway. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay."

He looked like he might try to touch her again, and Morgana froze. Whatever he was going to do was interrupted by Nabat yelling from the kitchen, "Yeah, you'd better get out of here before Carth comes around and kicks your ass again."

Brell's lips curled into a snarl as he walked out the door. Cold air swirled around her, and Morgana shivered as the door slid shut. The second he was gone, Nabat appeared at her shoulder. "What the hell is wrong with you?

Morgana glared up at her friend. "What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you? He's here helping me put together my appeal and you're being appallingly rude!" Morgana didn't wait for an answer, simply stalking off to the kitchen.

Nabat wouldn't let her get away so easily. Not that Morgana thought she would, but it was still extremely vexing. The Twi'lek fell into step next to her. "He's not here to help you with your appeal. He's here to get back into your pants. You should thank me for running him off."

Morgana's face burned so much that she was sure she must be nearly crimson. She snatched up her precious appeal off the table, fully intending to shake Nabat off and escape to her bedroom as soon as possible.

"He's been nothing but kind to me," she protested, even though a part of her knew that Nabat might have a point.

"Because he wants something." Nabat leaned against the doorframe, blocking her escape. "I don't get you, Ana. I don't get how someone so brilliant could be so fracking stupid." Nabat shook her head, her lekku looping around her neck. "You won't forgive Carth and you let Brell back into your life."

"Carth lied to me!" And it still hurt, burning a hole in her heart that she was sure would never heal.

"Maybe he was just worried that you'd freak out and he'd lose you."

Morgana rubbed her temples. She and Nabat had been going around and around about this for days, ever since Morgana had told her about most, but not all, of the fight. Even though Morgana was sick of arguing, she still felt compelled to defend herself. Besides, it truly stung that her best friend was taking his side. "Or maybe he lied because he thought it would wreck his chances of getting laid. He had all day to tell me, but he didn't."

"Right." Nabat snorted. "Because he needed to lie to you to get you into bed. It wasn't like the two of you have been hot for each other since the moment you met."

"I wouldn't have slept with him if I'd known what he'd done!" While that might have been true, the idea that it might not have happened, that she wouldn't have shared that kind of happiness with him, wasn't exactly a comfort either.

Her friend sighed. "He made a mistake. Carth's a good man. It's obvious to anyone who has eyes that he loves you. He'd make it up to you if you just give him a chance."

Morgana clenched her appeal to her chest and fought the tears that threatened to come. "I don't think he'll be back."

Concern creased Nabat's brow. She crossed the room and pushed Morgana into one of the kitchen chairs. "I don't think anything could keep that man away. I did some poking around and found out that his squad was called out on duty. That's why he hasn't been around, but he'll come back. You'll see."

"Not after what I said," Morgana murmured, unable to meet her friend's eyes.

"Why?" Nabat grabbed her arm. "What did you say? What didn't you tell me?"

Morgana swallowed, and forced herself to continue and fess up what she hadn't been able to admit to Nabat yet. "He told me he loved me. I told him that it didn't matter, and that even if he hadn't lied, I should have never been with him in the first place. That I wasted my time on him and lost my grant because of him."

Nabat just stared at her. It was the first time Morgana had ever seen her friend struck speechless.

Eventually, Nabat shook her head, still staring. "Oh, Ana. How could you say something like that?"

"I was angry." Confused by all of the conflicting emotions that tangled in her heart, she desperately grasped the one thing she knew he was wrong about. "He lied! He got into a fight with Brell, and he didn't understand why I was upset about losing the grant."

"Maybe he thinks you're so brilliant that you don't need that damn grant. Or maybe he just wants to know that he's as important to you as your work is."

"Why are you taking his side?"

"Because you're about to ruin the best thing that ever happened to you. Don't you care about him at all?"

"But I… but he…" Morgana's voice trailed off, and she sat in miserable silence until murmuring, "Yes," in a voice so quiet that she was surprised that Nabat could hear her.

"Then as much as he owes you an apology, you owe him one back. When he gets back from duty, what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

True anger flashed across Nabat's pretty face. "You're hopeless." Nabat stood and looked down at Morgana, who realized that Nabat was about to lose her patience with her. "Just think about this. Both Carth and Brell got into that fight. You're not mad at Brell and completely pissed at Carth. Why do you think that is?"

"Because Carth lied."

"Stop lying to yourself! It's because you love him and you're too scared to let him get too close because he might screw up your perfect, planned-out life."

Morgana had never been punched in the gut before, but she was pretty sure it must feel like this. "That's ridiculous," she managed to croak.

Nabat's words came out in an angry flood of long-simmering frustration. "Is it? Everything you do in your life is centered around you and how it fits into your perfect plan for the future. Before he came along, you'd gotten so wrapped up in your plans that you barely made time to do anything outside of them – even hang out with me. Then this wonderful guy comes along, forcing you to come out and live for a change, forcing you to think about someone other than yourself, and after one bump in the road you want to just throw him away.

"You're a coward, Ana, and if you don't wake the hell up and make room in your life for someone else, you're going to end up miserable and alone. And you'll deserve it!"

With that, Nabat stalked out of the kitchen and up the stairs, leaving her best friend stunned and in tears at the kitchen table.

* * *

In the gloom of imminent nightfall, Carth kicked aside the dried-out droppings of some long-gone animal and entered the dank, smelly cave a couple of kilometers north of the lake they'd crashed in. 

After the initial shock of Julia's death had worn off, Dustil and Carth had picked themselves off the beach and followed the canyon until they'd found this cave. While it would have been optimal for them to keep moving, they were forced to stop and seek some temporary shelter. As twilight fell, the temperature dropped, and both men, already chilled from the cold lake water, knew they needed to find shelter fast.

Grunting, Carth dropped to the stone floor of the cave and assessed the situation, shoving his grief for his friend and his physical discomfort and exhaustion aside in an effort to focus on what needed to be done next. With the ship sinking into the murky depths of the lake so quickly, they hadn't had the chance to grab their emergency landing gear. They only had what they were wearing when the ship went down: a pair of blasters, a couple of soggy choco bars Dustil had stuffed in his pocket, their wrist comms, and their boot knives.

Carth and Dustil tore their blasters apart quickly, with the experienced hands of men who'd been raised on a backwater colony, and both of them breathed a sigh of relief when the power cells appeared intact. Since there wasn't any wood for a fire, they gathered up several medium-sized rocks, reassembled their blasters and used their blaster fire to heat them up. It was a gamble though; Carth was hoping that the cave's thick rocky walls would hide them from any infrared sensors the enemy might have. But it was either take the chance that they might be found, or risk hypothermia, so shivering, Carth stripped off his boots and socks, laying them out on a warm stone, and used a second warm stone to heat up his bare feet.

It wasn't until they were both huddled over warm rocks that they spoke.

Carth rubbed his hands together, trying to keep the circulation flowing. "We need a plan."

"You're damn right we need a plan, because I'm not about to snuggle up to you for warmth. I don't care how cold I get."

Despite everything, Carth snorted and almost chuckled, but Dustil grew uncharacteristically serious and frowned for a second while he was thinking. "We should probably stay put. We've missed our last check-in time. If they haven't noticed already, it won't be long before they go to our last check-in coordinates and start looking for us. I'd say we've got about five or six hours before they find the base."

Carth shifted his weight, trying to get comfortable, an impossible task due to his cold, wet jumpsuit clinging to his body. "Yeah, but by that time the pirates will have bugged out. They have to know the Fleet is on its way."

Dustil shrugged. "There's not a lot we can do about that. We've got to be at least fifteen kilometers away from their base. Even if we could hoof it over there in time, there's not a hell of a lot just the two of us can do."

Carth fell into brooding silence, hating the fact that Dustil was right at least about the time factor, and hating even more the idea of sitting around and waiting to be rescued as Julia's killers escaped. His brooding was shortly interrupted by a pair of yellow speeder lights glowing on the other side of the canyon. It looked like a small vehicle a short ways off that held maybe two or three people. His hand moved automatically to the blaster at his hip. It had to be some of the pirates either looking for their own men, or coming to finish them off.

A grim smile crossed his face as he flexed his hands into fists. _Maybe we should let them find us._

Dustil must have been watching his face because he started to protest before Carth could even say something.

"Oh, no. That's crazy. We're just going to end up getting killed."

"We need to get to that base. Maybe we can stop them from leaving before the Fleet gets here."

"What? Just the two of us?"

Carth couldn't help the cocky smirk. "I can't believe I'm hearing this from the man who bragged nonstop about that last bar fight we were in."

Dustil glared at him. "A bar fight is one thing. Fighting well-armed terrorists is another. Besides, they're probably going to bug out soon. We should lay low and wait for the Fleet to get here."

"They've got several thousand civilian hostages to move in a star system that's crawling with Corellian and Republic warships. It's going to take a while to get them all loaded and wait for an all clear to leave. They wouldn't bother to send someone to make sure we're dead if they were leaving soon. Besides, we haven't seen any transports take off yet. Odds are they're going to be here for at least another hour, maybe even two. That's enough time for us to do something, if we can get their speeder."

"This is a bad idea," Dustil said, but Carth knew from his tone of voice that he'd go along with it, if he pushed.

He looked Dustil right in the eye. "Those bastards killed Julia. If they get away, she'll have died for nothing."

Dustil looked away, and his voice was soft when he spoke. "She didn't die for nothing. She died saving us."

Carth started pulling his mostly dry socks back on his feet. "And now we need to do this for her."

Dustil's mouth hardened into a thin, grim line. He nodded slowly, and the two of them began to plan.


End file.
